Ha’aretz in La-La-Land on Gaza Crossings, Part III
If you are tuning in for the first time on our running log of Ha’aretz‘s falsehoods regarding the Gaza crossings, check out Parts I and II.
Part III is about this weekend’s Ha’aretz Magazine article by Yotam Feldman and Uri Blau called “Gaza Bonanza” which alleges that Israeli businessmen are exploiting the Gaza blockade to turn a profit. But it’s hard to know what to believe about this entire article concerning shadowy figures unknown to most, given that the most basic information which can be easily fact-checked is clearly false.
The print edition of the article states (though the online version mysteriously omits this paragraph as well as other random parts of the article, such as the first paragraph):
Data compiled by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, shows that while the minimum number of trucks per month set by the IDF is 106, in May, 117 trucks passed through the Kerem Shalom terminal; in April the number was 113 and, before the start of Operation Cast Lead in December 2008, just 37.
These figures have actually no relation to the real world. As documented by the Palestine Trade Center, 2,023 trucks passed through Kerem Shalom crossing in May 2009 — not 117 (see Table 1, page 2).
And, the number for April is not 113 as Ha’aretz states, but 1,902. (Again, this from the Palestine Trade Center, which has a better grip on reality than Ha’aretz.)
And, finally, in December 2008, 612 trucks crossed through Kerem Shalom, not 37.
Ha’aretz‘s absurd numbers grow from week to week. What next?
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