Oxfam has released the following graphic condemning alleged “violent attacks by Israeli settlers” endangering the olive harvest in Palestine
Blogger EoZ has already fisked it and raises doubts as to the extent of the supposed vandalism:
Now, what about the supposed huge number of vandalized trees by “settlers?” Oxfam claims 1475 trees damaged this year.
There are about 8 million fruit bearing olive trees in the territories. If 1475 of them were destroyed completely, that would come out to total damage worth of about $27,000.
The research and design for this poster probably cost Oxfam more than $27,000!
If you look at the categories of damage listed, you can see that most of the alleged damages still would allow harvesting of some olives, so the real damage is even less. The number of fruit bearing trees cut down completely is probably zero, since olive trees are extraordinarily difficult to cut down or uproot.
And Oxfam is relying on lies to even come up with these figures. In tiny, tiny type, it says – absurdly:
No, Oxfam, the actual incidents are definitely lower. The Palestinian Authority deliberately lies about the attacks by settlers – for example, often claiming that religious Jewish settlers are cutting down olive trees on Shabbat, or showing photos of obviously pruned olive trees and pretending that they were cut down by Jews.
The number 1475 is highly exaggerated, which means that the total damage from “settlers” is minuscule compared to the total yield.
And one more thing: even with all the terrible Israeli restrictions and settler violence alleged, somehow the olive crop last year broke all records.
All good points, and I’d like to add to them.
Palestinian propaganda site Palestinian Information Center is regularly reporting about these supposed incidents. I decided to check the photos accompanying their reports to see if they were current, which is what you’d expect if the incidences actually happened and were documented.
You can see where this is going.
Exhibit A: Report on alleged incident November 26th, 2020
The photo is at least from 2017
Exhibit B: Report on alleged incident November 3rd, 2020
Photo is from 2014
Exhibit C: Report on alleged incident November 3rd, 2020
Photo does not relate to alleged incident, and has even been used by Palestinian Information Center in the past.
Exhibit D: Report on alleged incidences October 30th, 2020
Photo is at least from 2008
Exhibit E: Report on alleged incident October 29th, 2020
“Archive photo” is written on the photo.
Exhibit F: Report on alleged incident October 2th, 2020
This is another old photo, and Palestinian Information Center even used it back in 2018
I could keep going, but you get the idea.
I have very little doubt this is yet another example of an anti-Israel libel, one which Oxfam and others are more than willing to disseminate.
Hitler would be proud of them.
