GERMANY’s DER SPIEGEL MAGAZINE ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS - Presenting a one-sided story on Gaza.
By: Joseph Puder
January 8, 2025
The German Magazine Der Spiegel/English barely concealed its pro-Palestinian sentiments in its recent piece (December 23, 2024) titled "Within a Year, We Will Be Living in Gaza." Der Spiegel assembled a group German, Palestinian Arabs and some “anti-settlements” Israelis, to bring forth a one-sided story with a theme of Israeli brutal treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.
The lead paragraph reads, “The Israeli army is systematically destroying towns in northern Gaza and expelling the population, DER SPIEGEL reporting has found. The army is laying the groundwork for a military occupation - and for the possible construction of new Jewish settlements.”
Not a single member of the Netanyahu government was interviewed or asked to comment, nor for that matter, was the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief-of-Staff or its spokesperson asked to confirm the allegations.
The imbalance in the piece is put on full display by virtue of fact that the authors fail to mention decades of Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli communities enveloping the Gaza Strip. Murder of Israelis emanating from Gaza began in the 1950’s, not long after the Jewish state was established in 1948. Egypt, under the dictator Gamal Abdul Nasser, trained, armed, and funded Palestinian Fedayeen terrorists who infiltrated Israeli communities, ambushed buses and murdered civilians in cold blood – primarily targeting women and children.
Israel’s 1956 Sinai Campaign sought to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. Following the success of their military operation, which brought a respite from ongoing attacks, the Israeli troops departed.
History reveals deep Jewish roots in Gaza. The Patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac, resided in Gerar next to Gaza. Jews were, however, periodically removed from Gaza. In 61 CE, the Romans removed most of the Jews living in Gaza, followed by the Crusaders and the Ottoman Turks many years later. A number of Jews continued to live in Gaza, building a synagogue in the early sixth century. Recent findings include a mosaic from the synagogue of King David playing the lyre.
A Jewish presence continued into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries until 1929, when they were forced to leave due to the massacre perpetrated against them by the Palestinian Arabs. Following these deadly riots, resulting in the death of 135 Jews, the British prohibited Jews from living in Gaza in order to quell tension and appease the Arabs. Some Jews returned, however, and, in 1946, Kibbutz Kfar Darom was established to prevent the British from separating the Negev from the Jewish state. Kfar Darom had been a Jewish-owned citrus grove in the 1930’ and the land was purchased by the Jewish National Fund from its Jewish owner and established the kibbutz. During Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Egypt invaded southern Israel and captured the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Arabs were placed in refugee camps and the Jews abandoned Kfar Darom.
In the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured the Gaza Strip, once again. And, in 1970, Kfar Darom was re-established on the same site by the Labor government. Twenty more settlements were established in the Gaza Strip in the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Some of the families evacuated from the Sinai settlements were resettled in Gaza settlements, such as Elei Sinai. The settlers transformed the Gaza dunes into lush oases of green. The presence of such settlements near squalid Palestinian refugee camps sparked envy and resentment among the local Arab populace.
In 2005, Ariel Sharon’s government forcibly evacuated and dismantled the Gaza Strip settlements, together with 4 additional settlements in Northern Samaria, and withdrew its military presence from Gaza. The thriving greenhouses that the settlers had built and maintained were transferred to the Palestinians in what was regarded as a “turn-key” operation.
Two years later, in 2007, Hamas took over Gaza and threw Fatah operatives, their rival Palestinian party led by Mahmoud Abbas, off of high-rise buildings to their death. In addition, Hamas destroyed the greenhouses left by the Israelis. Hamas continually vows to destroy Israel, in accordance with their Islamist charter, which makes this pledge explicitly clear.
Following the White House lawn signing of the Oslo Accords in September 1993, Hamas began a campaign of homicide bombings which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in buses, pizzerias, and discotheques. Yasser Arafat operated a “revolving door,” during which he arrested Hamas terrorists for the benefit of the gullible western media and then, when the cameras were off, let them go, with some cash to boot!
From the moment Hamas took control of Gaza they began launching deadly rockets into Israeli communities enveloping Gaza. It made life for the families impossible. Kindergartens were targeted, and children had to spend their learning time in shelters. In December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, which ended in January 2009 with a cease fire.
The cease fire didn’t last long! Hamas continued firing rockets at Israeli communities and, once again, there were serious disruptions of life which led to Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. Following the kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers by Hamas in 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge. As soon as IDF forces withdrew, Hamas terror continued with rocket and mortar fire.
October 7, 2023, changed this cycle. The Hamas invasion of southern Israel along with the brutal massacre of 1200 Israelis (mostly civilians), the kidnapping of 251 (mostly Israelis with some others, including Americans) to the Gaza dungeons, and the destruction of scores of kibbutzim, brought an end to the division in Israel. Both the political left and right were unanimous regarding the need to end Hamas’ terror once and for all. Bringing the kidnapped Israelis back home was another clear mission for the Iron Swords War.
Nazi Germany’s terrorizing of Europe was met with the occupation of Germany by the Allied Forces (US, UK, Soviet Union, and France) following its defeat in WWII. The same morality applies to Israel’s presence in Gaza, with one difference, however, whereas the Allies (except France) didn’t have a common border with Germany, Israeli population centers are next to Gaza. Moreover, Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat October 7’s again and again…Israel must therefore ensure the safety of its civilian population by creating a buffer zone inside Gaza, and reclaiming Israeli property abandoned in 2005.
The Der Spiegel bias is dangerous. In an age where history is disrespected and/or ignored, their article should have widened the lens to include factual realities, including Hamas’ Islamist commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state, and the fact that Gazans share the Hamas ideology.