Hass’ Water Falsehood
Israel provides the Gaza Strip with 5 MCM of water
What’s a few million cubic meters of water to the crowded, dry Gaza Strip? Nothing, if you’re Amira Hass of Ha’aretz. In her Op-Ed yesterday, Hass falsified:
The reason [for brackish drinking water in Gaza] is an ancient one: overpumping because Gaza must make do with the waters from its aquifers alone. It is as if were to say to the residents of Be’er Sheva: make do with the water that flows nearby. The water resources in the rest of the country are not for you.
But Gaza does get some water from outside its own aquifers. For years, Israel has been providing the Gaza Strip with 5 MCM of water, and this supply has continued right through the disengagement, Hamas’ coup last summer, and Israel’s terming of Hamas “hostile territory,” a fact confirmed today by Shlomo Dror of the Civil Administration. Moreover, the fact that Israel supplies Gaza with water is regularly reported by Ha’aretz‘s own news writers.
As Amos Harel and Barak Ravid wrote Oct. 25, 2007:
The defense establishment is reportedly opposed to the idea of cutting the water supply to the Strip.
Aluf Benn wrote July 16, 2007:
Israel supplies electricity and water to the Gaza Strip, and Israeli officials told Israel Radio that the government is also prepared to send food if Hamas were to agree to receive it.
Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid wrote Sept. 5, 2007:
We will set a price tag for every Qassam, in terms of cutting off infrastructures,” Ramon told Army Radio. “Hamas will … know this in advance. We will not continue to supply ‘oxygen’ in the form of electricity, fuel, and water while they are trying to murder our children.”
Hass herself very well knows that for years Israel has been supplying Gaza with several million cubic meters of water. As she wrote Sept. 1, 2005:
But even now, the PA is using only half of the 10 million CBM [sic] that the Oslo Accords allow it to purchase from Mekorot, in other words, from water sources outside the Strip.
Also, Abdel Zaanoun of the AFP reported Sept. 20, 2007:
Israel supplies over 70 percent of Gaza’s electricity and nearly all of its drinking water.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Double Standards: Boycotts and Discrimination in MassLive
May 16, 2025
Anti-Israel activists, including Harvard University’s Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor, seem to struggle with the concept of “discrimination.” Quoted in a May 14 MassLive article, “Harvard ‘failed to respond’ to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered [...]
Swarthmore Students Are Learning: It Was Never About Palestinian Rights
May 14, 2025
Students at Swarthmore College are so close to understanding the conflict. An article in the Swarthmore Phoenix details the frustrations of student activists with the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. The gist of their criticism is [...]
AFP Arabic Stops Mislabeling Northern Israeli Communities ‘Settlements”
August 10, 2021
A view of Metulla, northern Israel (Photo by Hadar Sela)After failing to set the record straight last May when Agence France Presse's Arabic service repeatedly referred to Jewish communities in northern Israel as "settlements," the [...]
NY Times Praises Ilhan Omar’s Book While Glossing Over Her Antisemitism
August 19, 2020
A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes: The memoir offers breathing room [...]
When TV Interviews of Ilhan Omar Constitute Journalistic Malpractice
August 11, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN. MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 [...]
Boston TV Station WCVB Teamed Up With Terrorist Supporter CAIR
July 7, 2020
WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the [...]
Harper’s Magazine Echoed Palestinian Propaganda Condemning Israel And America
June 2, 2020
Writing in Harper's, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a [...]