Aid for Gaza

urms I disagree so profoundly with your (Netanyahu’s) assertions that I think it is best we leave it at that, as we will never agree and there is no point in arguing.

Hope your chest is better🙂

UMRWA is audited by the USA every year, for its neutrality, and has always had a clean bill of health.
So why did the USA cut off funding for UNRWA several years ago, way before this conflict, after serious allegations of corruption, sexual misconduct, abuse of authority at the highest levels of UNRWA?

The funding was reinstated by the present government.

Are you talking about Trump’s decision to stop funding?

Yes best to ‘agree to disagree’ Whitewave.
And thanks - the pleurisy is manageable now on the new prescription tablets. 😊

Hope you feel better soon, Urmstongran

Whitewavemark2

Are you talking about Trump’s decision to stop funding?

The interesting thing about Trump is he appeared to be a complete supporter of Israel. Remember the upset he caused over Jerusalem, moving the US diplomatic office there? But he later expressed a profound dislike for Netanyahu who he called a complete liar. It takes one to know one.

Yes which is why he stopped the funding. Netanyahu has always wanted rid of UNRWA.

I’m not sure what happened to cause Trumps intense dislike though.

Whitewavemark2

Yes which is why he stopped the funding. Netanyahu has always wanted rid of UNRWA.

I’m not sure what happened to cause Trumps intense dislike though.

What happened was the Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his win...

"The first person who congratulated [Joe Biden] was Bibi [Benjamin] Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with… Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake.

"He was very early," Mr Trump said. "Like earlier than most. I haven't spoken to him since. [Expletive] him.

(The 'expletive' will be obvious)

Trump is obviously too dim to realise that congratulating new USA Presidents is what foreign leaders do - it's diplomacy, an alien concept to him.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-59571713

Prior to the war, 80% of Gazans were dependent on aid, 45% were unemployed and since Hamas took control, between 2006 to 2022, Gaza’s real GDP per capita shrank 37%. And those with small businesses - generally in production of plastics, construction materials, textiles, furniture, pottery, tiles, copperware, and carpets - likely had links with Hamas and supplied Hamas.

And let's not forget some people in Gaza live in marble mansions & Hamas’s leaders are millionaires.

The only sustainable opportunity for Gaza to be self-sufficient and prosperous is freeing it from Hamas. Here’s hoping.

Urmstongran

Prior to the war, 80% of Gazans were dependent on aid, 45% were unemployed and since Hamas took control, between 2006 to 2022, Gaza’s real GDP per capita shrank 37%. And those with small businesses - generally in production of plastics, construction materials, textiles, furniture, pottery, tiles, copperware, and carpets - likely had links with Hamas and supplied Hamas.

And let's not forget some people in Gaza live in marble mansions & Hamas’s leaders are millionaires.

The only sustainable opportunity for Gaza to be self-sufficient and prosperous is freeing it from Hamas. Here’s hoping.

The reason for the poverty, the lack of industrial development, the lack of agricultural development is directly related to Israel's control of utilities and equipment entering Gaza and goods leaving. You cannot develop a successful economy without adequate supplies of electricity and water. Both are rationed by Israel. The desalination plants cannot run without electricity, agriculture cannot develop without water.
You cannot develop export businesses without any export places, you cannot develop production without importing raw materials.
As for your dates in 2008 Gaza was reduced to rubble by Israeli bombing. Israel boasted it bombed Gaza "back into the Middle Ages". It was estimated that at the rate Israel permitted building materials to enter Gaza reconstruction would take 80 years. That was when the tunnels were built to rebuild Gaza. The fact that Gaza actually managed to develop an economy at all is a tribute to their ingenuity.

The fact that Hamas leaders live in luxury in other countries shows how impossible destroying this movement by bombing Gaza is.

Israel is reported to be carpet bombing Rafah.

I thought that Netanyahu had assured Biden that he would evacuate the area before the bedlam and carnage began?

It breaks your heart. There will still be queues of people at Rafah some trying to leave, some waiting and hoping for aid coming in. Carpet bombing such people must be a war crime.

IDF has rescued two hostages held in Rafah,
this is being reported by BBC, Sky and multiple sources.

GrannyGravy13

IDF has rescued two hostages held in Rafah,
this is being reported by BBC, Sky and multiple sources.

Yes what lovely news and they are in good physical shape. What a relief for their families.

I’m a bit puzzled by the reports that they were being held in Rafah though.

Whitewavemark2

Israel is reported to be carpet bombing Rafah.

I thought that Netanyahu had assured Biden that he would evacuate the area before the bedlam and carnage began?

The people are well and truly trapped.. but that was exactly what Netanyahu wanted, he will annihilate them all if he can get away with it.. and the rest of the world will continue to watch it happening without actually forcing him to stop.. It's truly evil what is happening..

pascal30

Whitewavemark2

Israel is reported to be carpet bombing Rafah.

I thought that Netanyahu had assured Biden that he would evacuate the area before the bedlam and carnage began?

The people are well and truly trapped.. but that was exactly what Netanyahu wanted, he will annihilate them all if he can get away with it.. and the rest of the world will continue to watch it happening without actually forcing him to stop.. It's truly evil what is happening..

Can the rest of the world actually get Netanyahu to stop ? Don’t think he is listening

This is an injured child lying next to his dead mother. Every time someone tries to rescue him a sniper takes aim and tries to kill the rescuer.

None of this must be swept under the carpet.

There is another image of half of a child’s body hanging from a ruined building, with people trying to get it down. It is too dreadful to put on here, but this is what is happening in Rafah.

This must never be pushed to one side.

Whitewavemark2

This is an injured child lying next to his dead mother. Every time someone tries to rescue him a sniper takes aim and tries to kill the rescuer.

None of this must be swept under the carpet.

that's exactly what happened to the son of a friend of mine when he tried to rescue a little girl in Gaza.. He died.. the Israel army is ruthless

^ The reason for the poverty, the lack of industrial development, the lack of agricultural development is directly related to Israel's control of utilities and equipment entering Gaza and goods leaving^

Nope, not buying that Glorianny as long as Hamas can build MILES of underground tunnels. Diggers, electricity etc. they haven’t been built out of fresh air have they? Supplies (and aid) seconded by Hamas for their own nefarious purposes.

The fact that Hamas leaders live in luxury in other countries
demonstrates to me their own disregard (again) for the people they supposedly represent. They are terrorists.

Urmstongran

^The fact that Hamas leaders live in luxury in other countries^
demonstrates to me their own disregard (again) for the people they supposedly represent. They are terrorists.

I think that you are preaching to the converted here urms

We all despise what Hamas has done and stand for, but I also despise what Netanyahu is doing and stands for.

Hamas has dispersed Israeli hostages into civilian apartment buildings and is solely responsible for what is happening as the IDF finds and recovers them.

I am stirred by the bravery and self sacrifice of Israeli forces in the face of barbaric hatred. They used their own bodies to protect the hostages whilst under fire from all directions.
Compare and contrast with Hamas. Small details like this really sum up why so many right thinking people support Israel.

I support Israel! Always have.

But I do not support its expansionist policies nor its current government.