Photo and caption from Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper: The US Department of Defense delivers one million surgical masks to be used by the IDF (photo credit: Israeli Defense Spokesperson’s Office)
By Alison Weir
Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper reported yesterday:
“US Department of Defense give 1 million masks to IDF for coronavirus use”
The story reported:
“A plane carrying over a million surgical masks for the IDF landed in Ben-Gurion airport Tuesday night, in an operation ran by the US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement…”
Now the headline (same url) has been changed to:
Israel brings 1 million masks from China for IDF soldiers
And the reference to “the US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement” has been taken out.
What’s going on?
Did the Jerusalem Post get the story wrong and and then correct it? (Without acknowledging its original error.)
Or is the newspaper trying to hide facts that would upset Americans?
(Remember: numerous American healthcare workers, first responders, and others are going without face masks because of dangerous shortages. The administration has invoked the Defense Production Act to prevent the export of surgical masks and gloves outside the country.)
If the answer is the latter, and JP simply got some of the story wrong, there are still additional questions.
The article quotes someone named Limor Kolishevsky, whom it identifies as “head of the New York Purchasing and Logistics Division,” boasting: “In the past two weeks we have purchased and flown to Israel tens of thousands of swabs, masks, protective suits for medical staff and more.”
Why and how is someone in New York sending tens of thousands of masks and other equipment to the Israeli military?
Especially when these have been so desperately needed by people in New York, which recently reported a record 800-plus coronavirus deaths in one day.
(And remember, Israeli forces have a long record of human rights abuses, including daily invading Palestinian towns and villages, beating people up, abducting them, etc.)
Americans may wish to ask their Congressional representatives and the White House (202-456-1111) to find out the answers, and tell them to the American public, whose tax dollars give Israel over $10 million per day.
Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew, president of the Council for the National Interest, and author of Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel.
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