More Problems with the US-Israel Food Aid Program in Gaza

Last month I wrote a post about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, allegedly a humanitarian project aimed at providing food aid to the starving Palestinians of Gaza. At that time I was very skeptical of the operation and predicted that it would fail to be a successful provider of food assistance. After weeks of operation, the GHF has proven to be an even bigger failure than I had expected. The organization is undoubtedly causing the deaths of more people than it is saving.

As a review, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was only created in February of this year, largely by Americans. As a new organization, it obviously had no track record of delivering aid, let alone in an environment as difficult as Gaza. Moreover, its model for food delivery was almost exactly the opposite of that used by traditional humanitarian organizations. The GHF's plan was to open a very small number of aid hubs located some distance from the populations that they planned to serve. Traditionally, aid organizations prefer to open many small distribution centers close to populations in need. Critics, including me, predicted that the GHF plan would result in Gazans being forced to travel long distances — trips that would be impossible for many — and result in large crowds that would likely get out of hand. Moreover, there were concerns that the Israeli military would take advantage of these hubs to further abuse the Palestinians. All of these predictions have come true.

Because of the distances required to travel in order to reach a GHF hub, Palestinians have started sleeping outside near the distribution centers. They then encounter Israeli military units who almost without exception determine that the Palestinians are hostile and open fire on them. More than 100 Gazans a day have been killed in this manner. When those seeking food do reach the hubs, just as expected, the crowds grow very large and soon get out of control as desperate people struggle for the limited amounts of food available. This often results in the hubs either being overrun by crowds or being forced to close for the day. There is often further killing of Palestinians at this point. The result is that the GHF hubs are remarkably ineffective and little more than death traps for the Palestinians.

In addition, it has become undeniable that the Foundation, far from being an authentic humanitarian operation, is simply an Israeli military front. In my earlier post, I noted that former Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman claimed that GHF is being secretly funded by the Israeli defense ministry. Israel's involvement has become even more apparent over time. In a rather extraordinary development, it was revealed that the Boston Consulting Group had played a key role in designing and implementing the business operation of the GHF. According to the Washington Post, BCG consultants regularly met with Israeli officials. The same Washington Post report also provided further support to Lieberman's allegation that the Israeli government largely provided the funding to GHF. It is pretty clear at this point that the Foundation is little more than an Israeli operation aimed at addressing public relations problems derived from Israel's starvation of Gazans. Rather than prioritizing food delivery, the foundation's practices are aimed at assisting Israeli military goals in Gaza. To put it starkly, the mission of the GHF is not to help the Palestinians, but rather to help Israel.

An American who has served as a security contractor at one of the GHF hubs had this to say:

This idea that the Israeli military isn't involved is bullshit. They're very much involved. They have offices in our compounds. We share our radio communications with them. The higher-ups claim the Israeli military is not involved, but it feels like they’re the man behind the curtain. Sure, they’re not on-site with us, but their snipers and tanks are just hundreds of meters away. You can hear them shooting all day.

For its part, the Boston Consulting Group launched an internal investigation that resulted in two partners being fired. According to a BCG spokesperson quoted by the Washington Post, the two partners had operated without authorization. In addition, Christoph Schweizer, the BCG CEO, issued a letter apologizing for the group's involvement in the GHF project. Addressing BCG staff, Schweizer wrote, "I deeply regret that in this situation, we fell short — of our own standards and of the trust that you, our clients, and our broader communities place in BCG". Prior to Schweizer's apology, BCG staff had revolted and written a letter condemning the company's potential complicity in "ethnic cleansing”.

As if this operation were not depraved enough already, Israel has gone even further and recruited members of a Palestinian criminal gang who are associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) to assist with security at the GHF hubs. For months, I have been reading reports from Gaza that aid convoys (this was prior to the Israel blockade) were being attacked and looted by armed gangs. Israel tended to accuse Hamas of being behind these attacks, but those on the ground noted that the looting often took place right under the noses of Israeli forces, suggesting that the Israelis were condoning the looting. It later emerged that one of the gangs doing the looting was led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a one-time drug trafficker who is connected to the Islamic State. Now Israel has armed and supplied Abu Shabab's group and given them an official security role. The group’s primary activity has been to terrorize Palestinian aid seekers. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the effort, saying "After Netanyahu finished sending millions of dollars to Hamas, he’s now providing weapons to groups affiliated with ISIS in Gaza". The gangs are said to be allowed early access to food supplies at the GHF hubs and accused of taking food and selling it on the black market.

There are reports today that a bus carrying local Palestinian staff to one of the GHF hubs was attacked by Hamas. According to GHF, at least five of its staff were killed, and others may have been kidnapped. GHF considers this to have been an attempt to interrupt the delivery of food aid. While that is possible, it is more likely to simply have been punishment for collaborating with what is seen as an Israeli operation that has led to the death of hundreds of Palestinians.

Beginning sometime yesterday, Israel began directly attacking telecommunications resources in Gaza, resulting in a near complete Internet outage across Gaza. This will make reporting from Gaza even more difficult and allow Israel to operate even further outside the eyes of the world. Israel continues to implement one of the best-documented genocides in history, creating even greater difficulty for Western governments trying to ignore the situation. With its constant murders of journalists, its Potemkin food assistance program, and now an Internet blackout, Israel is continuing its ham-fisted reactions to its self-made public relations problems.