“Big news” from Turkey as its second ship of “humanitarian aid” to Gaza left the port of Mersin on Friday. It has been almost 2 months since Turkey sent its last ship, which Israel allowed to dock at Ashdod before transferring its cargo into Gaza despite the fact that Ankara had not yet ratified the reconciliation deal.
It isn’t immediately clear just how much cargo this new ship is carrying, but if it is anything like the first ship, it has roughly 12,000 tons. Expect Erdogan to praise himself thoroughly for his humanitarianism – and his this “monumental breakthrough” which he will say justified reconciliation with Israel. Just don’t expect him to put this in context for you.
That’s our job.
So let’s compare Erdogan’s Turkey, the Friend of Hamas, Defender of Gaza and Savior of Palestine to the actions of the evil, genocidal, Apartheid Israel:
In two months, Turkey sent two ships to Gaza with a total of roughly 24,000 tons of aid/goods.
In the month of August, according to COGAT, Israel transferred 412,820 tons of aid/goods to Gaza, with an average of 22,934 tons per day during the workweek. That means that every day, Israel is transferring roughly the twice the amount to Gaza as contained in each Turkish “aid” ship!
Also, for those of you playing along at home, Egypt only “opened” the Rafat crossing from Gaza for the last three days of August for Gazans going on Hajj. But, just as in June when Egypt last opened the crossing (then for only 2 days), it is opened only to individuals; the mass transfer of goods or aid to or from Gaza simply never happens via its border with Egypt. But of course you will never hear about this Egyptian blockade of Gaza.
So while the media continues to cry to the world about a fake Israeli siege, Israel is transferring daily the same amount goods that Turkey is sending in two months, while Egypt sends exactly zero tons of aid across its own border.
Worst. Blockade. Ever.
