When Ali Velshi speaks, change the channel. Better yet, MSNBC could arrange it so that Velshi can only speak at a street corner.
Saturday morning, at 9:45, I experienced an absurd, surreal display of Velshi’s creepy concept of broadcast journalism. If Velshi lived in Russia, he would fit in well writing for Pravda. He offended Jews and other supporters of Israel.
Velshi strung together a string of facts and brazen lies while neglecting to supply relevant context on a news program he hosted to conjure up a not-so-creative Israel-bash-a-thon.
He griped that Thursday’s pact to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates for the most part fails to address the fate of the Palestinians. “No food, no aid, no help,” he declared, as Israel imposes a “constant blockade” of Gaza.
Israel is also “blocking the little fuel” that Gaza receives to generate electricity amid years of excessive blackouts, he noted.
Why was he saying this? Gaza is not denied food supplies so long as Israeli security can inspect shipments for smuggled arms. The 2 million people who inhabit Gaza are often deprived of electrical power at least partly because of disputes between Gazan leaders and the Palestinian Authority that is based in the West Bank.
Some of Velshi’s claims became reality shortly before his gap-filled rant, and he neglected to explain the tit-for-tat circumstances that produced these conditions. I discovered on Sunday that Velshi was obviously referencing attacks from terror groups that launched hundreds of explosive and incendiary devices attached to bundles of balloons from Gaza into Israel, as well as several rockets, as The Times of Israel website reports.
These hostile acts commenced more than a week ago, which would have preceded the Israel-UAE announcement. For eight consecutive nights, the Israeli Air Force retaliated by bombing Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, according to the Times.
Israeli leaders gradually tightened restrictions in Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas, which controls Gaza, to end the balloon attacks by first closing the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel to all goods except for food and fuel, followed by reducing the amount of space in the fishing zone, the website recounts.
Then last Thursday Israel decided to prevent fuel from reaching Gaza’s only power plant, and that ban would force Gaza’s only power plant to shut down, the Hamas-run Gaza Energy Authority said in a statement, according to reports from the Times and Reuters.
The Times of Israel further recounts: “The plant’s shutdown will drastically reduce the meager supply of electricity which Gaza residents receive. The Gaza plant provides roughly a third of the Gaza Strip’s barely adequate electricity supply, with the remainder provided by the Israel Electric Corporation.
“Blackouts are already a regular feature of life in the Gaza Strip: On a good day, electricity is available for around 12 hours. The Gaza Energy Authority estimates that the electricity deficit will increase to 75% without a functioning Gaza power station, meaning Gazans could see their already slim electricity rations plunge to as low as four hours a day.”
Nine Israeli human rights groups denounced the terror attacks, and added in a statement that “it does not justify the imposition of punitive measures against the civilian population in the Strip for actions that are outside of its control” (also from The Times of Israel).
I knew nothing about these terror attacks until I attempted to inquire about Velshi’s contentions the following day. I had read nothing about it in two prominent newspapers that I subscribe to, heard nothing on televised news programs and did not even find anything on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency website, which posted a brief story on Monday.
No reasonable person can object to Velshi alerting the world to ongoing Palestinian suffering, or is it a new round of endurance? Problem is, Velshi does not bother to clarify it. What was he talking about?
In the “too-many-distortions,-too little time” department, Velshi complains about the UAE deal and follows it up with conditions in Gaza. If he is referring to Israel’s new restrictions, and we cannot be sure if he is, they appear to have nothing to do with one another. The restrictions result from the recent terror attacks.
Perhaps Israel’s ban on electricity – again, if that is the case – is the wrong response, but Velshi does not mention the balloon launchings. Did he forget?
“No food,” he declares. However, food is still allowed to be shipped into Gaza, The Times of Israel reports.
Is this what Velshi calls journalism? I will not speculate if his background drives his attitudes. For the record, he is a Muslim who was born in Kenya and raised in Toronto. He has reported for CNN and the now-defunct al-Jazeera, the Arabic television news program. He splits his time between New York City and suburban Philadelphia, where his wife lives in Bryn Mawr.
What Velshi does not consider from his perch at MSNBC is Hamas’ hostility to Israel. Terrorists from Gaza have fired rockets into Israel for years; they have snuck into Israel through a network of tunnels to harm Israelis; Palestinians have attempted to storm through barriers at Israel’s border; and some Palestinians have entered Israel through its crossings to ignite bombs.
How is Israel supposed to respond to that? Who is at fault for the suffering of Gaza residents?
Velshi concluded his segment with what could only be a comedy routine by interviewing NBC correspondent Matt Bradley, who is based in London. It had to be a comedy sketch because Bradley reported that Iran and Turkey are “furious” about the UAE agreement. How could anyone be serious about two countries run by tyrants? Bradley was at his clownish best when he said:
“They are furious about this because they are squarely in the Palestinian camp. They are champions of the Palestinians.”
Velshi and Bradley were so grim and resolute that for awhile I thought they were being genuine. Where’s a laugh-track when you need one?
Republished from San Diego Jewish World