Doctors Without Borders(DWB) holds itself out to be a politically neutral medical provider that cares about all people equally. That was its pretend pose when it won the Nobel Peace Prize. In actuality, it was always a hard-left group that played politics with medicine. But recent events have exposed the depths of its bigotry and destroyed its fraudulent claims of neutrality.
Since Oct. 7, it has become a full-time front for Hamas barbarity and a declared enemy of Israel and of the Israeli victims and hostages. It has also become a medical megaphone for Hamas lies.
The head of the Gaza unit of DWB was recently interviewed by CNN. After parroting Hamas lies about Israel allegedly targeting doctors, journalists and children, she was confronted by the reporter with a truth: “Hamas uses human shields.” This was her mendacious response: “No we don’t.” Not “no they don’t,” but no “we don’t.” The “we” obviously referred to the organization she was speaking for, namely Hamas, whose lies she was communicating. But she was also speaking for DWB, for whom she works, while at the same time speaking for Hamas.
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Her lies about human shields have long been disproven by hard evidence. As a NATO report in 2019 documented:
“Hamas, an Islamist militant group and the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, has been using human shields in conflicts with Israel since 2007…The strategic logic of human shields has two components. It is based on an awareness of Israel’s desire to minimize collateral damage, and of Western public opinion’s sensitivity towards civilian casualties. If the IDF uses lethal force and causes an increase in civilian casualties, Hamas can utilize that as a lawfare tool: it can accuse Israel of committing war crimes, which could result in the imposition of a wide array of sanctions. Alternatively, if the IDF limits its use of military force in Gaza to avoid collateral damage, Hamas will be less susceptible to Israeli attacks, and thereby able to protect its assets while continuing to fight.”
By denying this reality, DWB encourages Hamas to persist in its double war crimes: using Palestinian civilians to help it target Israeli civilians.
Another DWB leader demanded that Israel accept a unilateral ceasefire, without saying a word about the remaining hostages or the victims of murder and rape on Oct. 7. Because they are doctors, they have enhanced credibility for their bigoted and mendacious claims on behalf of Hamas.
The same is true for UNICEF and UNRWA, which operate under the UN aegis, but rarely deviate from the Hamas line. These one-sided organizations have also demanded a unilateral ceasefire by Israel without demanding the return of all the hostages as a precondition. Nor have they focused their attention on the 1,200 Israelis, including children, who were murdered, raped, beheaded and kidnapped. Or on the Hamas promise that it will repeat these atrocities.
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A UN Watch report documented celebrations by UNRWA of the Hamas massacres. And it has now been learned that hostages have been hidden by UN employees to prevent their rescue by Israel. Also, hundreds of the murderers and rapists attended UNRWA schools, which have become propaganda mills for Hamas.
These antisemitic groups are funded by the U.S. government and tax-deductible charitable contributions. These payments are based on the false assumption that the organizations are neutral and serve all people equally on a humanitarian basis. But they don’t. In the Israel-Hamas conflict, they serve only Hamas. In fact, the partisan assistance they provide Hamas may well be criminal. U.S. law makes it a felony to provide “material support” to designated terrorist organizations like Hamas.
Whether criminal or merely immoral, these bigoted organizations are helping Hamas do its dirty work. And they are hurting Israel and the Israeli victims and hostages. They are also hurting Gaza civilians by denying that Hamas uses them as human shields and encouraging Hamas to continue to use hospitals and schools to harbor terrorists.
They do not deserve American financial support or the charitable contributions of decent people. Indeed, they should be condemned in the court of public opinion and perhaps in the courts of law.
The time has come for the media to conduct thorough investigations of these organizations. Congress too should investigate their receipt of direct and tax-deductible funds and the way these dollars are spent.
Because they have undeserved reputations for neutrality and integrity, there is a disincentive to probe their workings. But the truth is that they do much harm along with some good, and donors have the right to know the whole truth.
Alan Dershowitz is professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and the author of “Get Trump,” “Guilt by Accusation” and “The Price of Principle.” Andrew Stein, a Democrat, served as New York City Council president, 1986-94. This piece is republished from the Alan Dershowitz Newsletter.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Tampa Free Press
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