Back in September, I posted about the tragic burning death of three kids in Gaza, which anti-Israel propaganda site Quds News Network and others were trying to blame on the “electricity crisis” (i.e. on Israel). At the time, QNN actually posted that “the children lit a candle in their room” – which pointed to severe parental negligence.
It turns out there was gross parental negligence alright – but that hasn’t stopped others from still blaming Israel (hat tip: Maimon).
“What did these children do wrong to die in such a horrible way?,” asked 15-year-old Aseel M. following news on September 1 that three young Palestinian children from the same family died when their home caught on fire in the Gaza Strip. The three brothers, aged between two and five years old, were the latest victims of Gaza’s electricity crisis perpetuated by Israel’s 13-year closure of the Gaza Strip.
The three brothers from the al-Hazin family, five-year-old Yousef, four-year-old Mahmoud, and two-year-old Mohammad, lived in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. In late summer, electricity was only available intermittently, about four hours per day.
Omar al-Hazin, the father of the three boys, told Defense for Children International – Palestine that he charges a battery each day to light their home. He was unable to charge the battery that day so he lit a candle and placed it beside a wood-framed window covered with a plastic screen.
The three boys were asleep in the home around 8:15 p.m. when al-Hazin left to buy groceries at a store about 700 meters (2,297 feet) away. The children were alone at the time; their mother had left the home to stay with her father three days earlier. At the store, he heard his neighbors calling out that his home was on fire. He rushed back to the house to find many of his neighbors attempting to extinguish the fire.
This is the equivalent of blaming a casino for the deaths of children left in hot cars while their negligent parents gamble for hours.
While I feel sorry for the father, he needs to take responsibility for his own poor decisions rather than just blaming them on Israel.
Kind of like the palestinian leadership in general.
