Let’s not waste time with pleasantries. I’m tired of being lectured by diplomats sipping Chardonnay in Brussels, social media influencers playing war correspondent from their iPhones, and journalists who couldn’t find Kerem Shalom on a map if it were tattooed on their foreheads.
Here’s the reality they’re all too afraid—or too complicit—to say out loud: Israel is not the problem. Hamas is.
Yes, there is aid. Mountains of it. Food, medicine, fuel—stacked and waiting at border crossings like Kerem Shalom and Rafah. Israel has allowed it in. Egypt has too. Even the U.S. constructed a maritime pier to facilitate deliveries. But the bottleneck isn’t on the border. It’s inside Gaza, where Hamas controls the gates—and plays God with human lives.
We know this. It’s not speculation. It’s not “Zionist spin.”
It’s been reported by The Times of Israel, The Daily News, and even The Wall Street Journal—hardly Israeli propaganda outlets—that Hamas has hijacked aid convoys, diverted food and fuel to its fighters, and left humanitarian supplies to rot in warehouses .
And the photos? You know—the viral ones of malnourished toddlers and hollow-eyed mothers circulating on X and TikTok?
Turns out several were lifted from unrelated conflicts or old news footage. The Daily Mail traced one image—supposedly from Khan Younis—to a 2014 Syrian refugee camp. Another widely shared video was filmed in Yemen during a cholera outbreak in 2017 .
But facts don’t trend. Fabricated suffering does.
And now here we are—yet again—listening to international “experts” and latte-fueled think tanks demand that Israel do more. Let me ask you this: when exactly did it become Israel’s job to feed, medicate, and coddle a population ruled by a terror regime committed to its annihilation?
No one asked the United States to drop care packages into Raqqa when ISIS was in charge. No one begged the French to send croissants to occupied Vichy. But Israel? Different rules. Different expectations. Always.
That’s the double standard at play.
And let’s not pretend the outrage is humanitarian in nature. The same European bureaucrats sobbing over Gaza now were utterly mute on October 7th, when Hamas terrorists burned babies alive, raped women, and kidnapped Holocaust survivors. Spare me the lectures about proportionality from people who couldn’t muster a press release for the murdered teens at the Nova Festival.
Where was the righteous indignation then?
You want proportionality? Here’s proportionality:
Hamas has fired over 30,000 rockets into Israel since October 2023. It has embedded itself in UN schools, hospitals, and residential homes, making every civilian death part of their strategy. This is a group that stores weapons under maternity wards and launches rockets from schoolyards.
And yet, it’s Israel that’s on trial.
We need to stop giving oxygen to Hamas’s PR machine—because make no mistake, that’s what this is. A well-oiled, image-driven, emotionally manipulative propaganda apparatus designed to weaponize guilt and undermine Israel’s right to exist. Entire departments in Gaza are dedicated to media production. They know the angles. They know the hashtags. They’ve read Rules for Radicals cover to cover.
As Jonathan Schanzer from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies put it, “Hamas doesn’t need to win militarily. It only needs to survive politically—and it does so by manipulating the global narrative” .
Enough is enough.
The solution isn’t more aid trucks. It’s more accountability.
Accountability for Hamas’s crimes against its own people.
Accountability for NGOs that act as de facto enablers.
Accountability for the UN agencies who continue to hire Hamas operatives and look the other way when tunnels are dug under their schools.
So here’s what we should be saying:
- To Hamas: You don’t get to starve your people and blame it on your enemy.
- To Egypt: Pick a side. You can’t claim neutrality while letting Hamas play puppet master at Rafah.
- To our own leaders: Stop letting photo ops dictate foreign policy.
This is war. Not a social media campaign.
Israel doesn’t owe the world a public relations seminar. It owes its citizens something far more important—security. And on that, they cannot, and must not, compromise.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for the suffering in Gaza, look no further than the terror regime hoarding the food, hoisting their children onto rooftops for photo ops, and dreaming of the day Tel Aviv burns.
That’s not Israel’s burden. That’s Hamas’s shame.
Endnotes
- 1. New York Times Photo Retraction
- In July 2025, the NY T issued a correction regarding a graphic photo of a malnourished child in Gaza. The child, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al‑Matouq, suffered from cerebral palsy and genetic conditions—not famine. Independent journalist David Collier exposed how Hamas uploaded the image to amplify anti‑Israel sentiment. The Times acknowledged it had omitted critical medical context, prompting backlash and vandalism at NYT offices. This case has become a key example of how Hamas’s propaganda relies on emotional imagery rather than verifiable context. State Department+15The Australian+15Wikipedia+15
- 2. Armed Hamas Militants Looting Aid Trucks
- Just recently, the Israeli Defense Forces released footage showing armed Hamas militants looting aid trucks inside Gaza, even as crowds waited to receive food. Civilians were clearly visible nearby while militants climbed atop the trucks and seized supplies—a stark visual example of Hamas hijacking humanitarian aid. Wikipedia+2The Sun+2Wikipedia+2
- 3. Aid Sites Become “Death Traps” Under GHF Program
- From late May through July 2025, the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) ran aid distribution centers in Rafah and Khan Yunis. The process quickly devolved into chaotic, militarized distribution points. Over 1,000 Palestinians were killed—many by IDF or contractor gunfire—while trying to access aid. Aid centers were open only briefly, and orders to fire on crowds before and after opening hours reportedly came from IDF commanders. Humanitarian groups have labeled the system a “death trap” and warned that Hamas is weaponizing chaos to dominate the narrative. Vox+5Wikipedia+5Wikipedia+5
- 4. Black‑Market Aid Sales by Armed Gangs
- As aid entered Gaza, it did not equally reach the vulnerable. Armed gangs—often operating under the guise of local militias—seized supplies and sold essentials like flour for up to $60 per kilogram, making them unaffordable for most civilians. Over 100,000 women and children now face severe malnutrition. These gangs are viewed by many as proxies allowing Hamas to offload blame while controlling distribution and optics. AP News
Carolyn Spencer Contributor | Direct Line News contact Carolyn at Carolyn.Spencer@mcgopclub.com
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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