Dying for Coverage
Gazans protest against the Hamas-Fatah rivalries which have prevented sick Palestinians from leaving the Gaza Strip for medical care (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
One year ago, the New York Times dedicated prominent news coverage to seven Fulbright scholars who could not leave Gaza to study in the United States. The coverage, including a front-page news story and a finger-wagging editorial, (erroneously) blamed Israel for the situation.
Now another group of Gaza citizens is unable to travel abroad for a pressing need — and the consequences for these people are much more dire than those of the students unable to attend prestigious programs. As reported by the AP:
Hundreds of Palestinian patients have been trapped in the Gaza Strip, unable to travel abroad for crucial treatment for cancer and other diseases, because of political infighting between Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and their Palestinian rivals.
Eight Gazans who were waiting to travel abroad have died since the crisis began in March, when the dispute shut down a medical referral committee that helps sick residents find treatment outside of Gaza, according to the World Health Organization.
While the New York Times deemed the dubious case of the seven Fulbright students a cause celebre, the paper of record has totally ignored the Fatah-Hamas controversy which is responsible for the painful and unnecessary deaths of innocent patients desperately seeking to reach Egypt.
(Note: Prospects of recovery for sick Palestinians were also dimmed in late January, when the Palestinian Authority decided to discontinue payments to Israeli hospitals for treatments there, a development that was reported at the time by the Times. But the issue of the Hamas-Fatah disputes which has blocked the exit of Gazan patients has not been reported by the Times.)
More from SNAPSHOTS
Revealed: Palestinian ‘Journalist’ Killed at Gaza Border was a Terrorist
May 1, 2018
PFLP operatives A Palestinian journalist who died from wounds received during the Hamas-led “Great Return March” has been identified as a terrorist. Ahmed Abu Hussein, a journalist who worked with Bisann News and Voice of [...]
Poll: Majority of Palestinians Fear Their Own Government
April 23, 2018
PA President Mahmoud Abbas and European Union Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini A majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) fear the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to a poll by the Palestinian [...]
LA Times Replaces Solid AP Headline With Biased Headline
April 23, 2018
"Hamas vows revenge for key member killed in Malaysia," was the perfectly accurate and straightforward Associated Press headline (reproduced here in The Washington Post) about the killing Saturday of key Hamas member Fadi Batsh in [...]
Iran Has Sleeper Cells in the U.S.—And the Media is Fast Asleep
April 20, 2018
Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah The Islamic Republic of Iran has proxies serving as “sleeper cells” in the U.S., according to sworn congressional testimony. Yet, U.S. news outlets have largely neglected the story. Several “intelligence officials [...]
Where’s the Coverage? Iranian Drone Shot Down by Israel Was Armed
April 19, 2018
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei Israeli officials have recently disclosed that an Iranian drone shot down by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) on Feb. 10, 2018 was armed. However, many major U.S. news outlets have [...]