The deep fake of Gazan starvation

Just another word for “outright lie,” deep fake has become the latest verbal construct to signify the creation of untrue content or a type of convincing manipulation, meant to deceive and distract from what is real.

Nothing could better characterize the libelous claims we have all been hearing since the October 7 massacre when a parallel disaster had to be faked in order to distract from the real one, where the most heinous, barbaric crime against Jews had been committed since the Holocaust.

The dishonest strategy was, undoubtedly, the brain child of Israel haters who, no matter how many truckloads of food were driven into Gaza, would never be enough, because Israel had to be blamed and castigated as well as put on a level playing field with evil terrorist monsters who were able to watch with glee as they burned whole families and dismembered women while raping them.

It was simple. Accuse Israel of starving a whole population, and that becomes the day’s headlines – relegating the real tragedy to the back pages. But, forgetting that the truth eventually comes out, the miscalculation of perpetuating the lie indefinitely, became impossible once an investigation into the matter was completed, and that is exactly what has happened.

Wednesday’s Jerusalem Post headlines read, “Experts say ICC, UN wrongly accused Israel of creating Gaza ‘famine,’” culminating in their findings which disclosed that “Food entering Gaza was more than sufficient to feed all 2.2 million people in line with what is considered a normal N. American diet.”

The investigation, carried out by Columbia University professors, whose conclusions vindicated Israel against all the vicious lies that had been spewed, called the allegations a myth, in which two international organizations “joined Hamas in blaming Israel for a famine that never was, hoping to stop the war. Given everything that’s come out of Columbia University, over the past few months, who has any doubts that their findings must be the gospel truth, knowing that these individuals will, surely, face blowback for their honest appraisal of what really happened?

One of the professors, described as an “expert in supply chains, logistics and data science and Chair of the Columbia University Business School’s Decision, Risk and Operations Division, addressed the arrest warrant which had been issued by the ICC against Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, based on charges of starvation and denial of humanitarian relief, as false, while providing critical context that Hamas had “sabotaged and stolen” much of the food.

But when you think about the lengths that any person or group would go to, by smearing and libeling a democratic country, whose chief consideration is the value of human life, in order to prevent a just war from taking place, you have to realize that nothing is sacred when it comes to achieving the desired goal. And that is what almost happened, had it not been for a thorough investigation which told us otherwise.

In fact, well before these findings were released, something didn’t smell right as many photos came to light, showing massive amounts of fresh produce, meat, fish and just about every baked delicacy known to man, all on Gazan streets, restaurants and in their markets. After viewing these images on N12 News, I reported this story, published by ALL ISRAEL NEWS on April 21, entitled, “Does this look like hunger, misery and genocide?”

It very quickly became apparent that there was no starvation, of any kind, taking place in Gaza, but, rather, a fabricated narrative, merely invented to garner world sympathy while, at the same time, besmirching the reputation of a trusted ally – cleverly called “killing two birds with one stone.”

But lies are only effective until they aren’t, and, in this case, the real facts, which took nearly the same amount of time as the birth of a baby, made their welcomed entrance into the news wards for all to see, absent the congratulatory balloons and flowers. Perhaps a bit late, after the terrible damage which has been done, by the many proclamations of premature guilt, but this glorious vindication is the long-awaited healthy baby whose glowing presence cannot be denied or ignored.

So, when will the apologies or retractions be heard? Not so fast! Because although this hoax didn’t last, there will, undoubtedly, be another effort to pass off a new deep fake which will equally be as devastating, scandalous and accusatory, meant to irrevocably stain the Jewish state for crimes they did not commit. It’s a veritable non-stop “gotcha” attempt in the blame game directed at Israel – one which will not subside until people overwhelmingly reject the obvious smears that are intended to delegitimize Israel.

But, until that happens, the news media will do what they do best, and that is printing the worst garbage they can dig up about the Jewish homeland, at a time when it has suddenly become fashionable to publicly air antisemitic sentiment with impunity.

Does it matter that their sources are dubious, at best, and fallacious, to them, even at the get-go? Not at all. Just as long as they are able to quote ugly claims which come from agenda-driven entities, that’s all that matters. Take, for example, the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), which operates under the auspices of the UN. According to a report, it was back in March, when they “issued a report predicting the advent of a major famine in Gaza provoked by Israel,” rather than squarely placing the blame on their own Hamas terrorist government.

That should have already been a tip-off that bias was strongly present. The news was then spread by another organization which “accused Israel of making deliberate choices to starve civilians as North Gazans were subsisting on as little as 245 calories per day.”

The incident is almost reminiscent of the children’s game, “Telephone,” where a message gets whispered from child to child until the original context is so distorted that it has no resemblance to the words of the first speaker. Similarly, Israel ends up becoming the reviled pariah whose nefarious plot to annihilate Palestinians is brought to light. The only problem is that it is a perfect projection, the psychological defense mechanism term used to attribute one’s feelings, thoughts or motives onto someone else who they claim is doing the very thing of which they are guilty.

So, here’s a good piece of advice...the next time a horrible accusation is made against Israel, just apply it to the one who is suggesting that it was done, and you will know exactly who the enemy is and what they have cooked up. In fact, you can count on it being just another one in a long line of deep fakes!