With an absurd claim about purported international aspirations for peace between Hamas and Israel and a ludicrous assertion that far-right Israeli Minister Betzalel Smotrich supposedly kicked off a campaign promoting Jewish “colonialism,” the Associated Press and Agence France Presse hilariously get into the spirit of Purim. Preposterous reporting last week more closely resembled “The Onion” content than fact-based news coverage from a leading media outlet and evoked the upcoming joyous Jewish holiday in which satire holds center stage.
Thus, in their Feb. 19 article, “Trump gets pledges for Gaza reconstruction and troop commitments at inaugural Board of Peace Talks” (also in Spanish), AP’s Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee cited the Board of Peace‘s “Herculean task of bringing lasting peace between Israel and Hamas … “
No relevant parties are naive or ill-informed enough to be aiming for peace between Israel and Hamas, a designated terror organization sworn by charter to Israel’s destruction, and whose leaders publicly have shared their genocidal ambitions to carry out additional Oct. 7 massacres until that goal is achieved. The board aims to sideline and disempower Hamas so that one day, hopefully, there can be peace between Israel and Palestinians.
Indeed, President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending hostilities in the Gaza Strip opens with the goal: “Gaza will be a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” Later it states: “Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form.” Thus, the plan aims to neuter Hamas; not bring it to peace with Israel.
Second, in an Feb. 18 article, AFP embraces Purim’s reversal theme (V’nahafoch Hu), projecting the new agency’s own misconceptions of alleged Jewish colonialism onto Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich’s vision of Jewish return to his people’s indigenous heartland (“Top Israeli minister pushes for ’emigration’ of West Bank, Gaza Palestinians“). Thus, in a comical mistranslation, the article erred:
Smotrich was speaking at a vineyard near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, where he presented what he called “Colonisation 2030,” a campaign initiative ahead of national elections scheduled for later this year. [Emphasis added.]
The name of the campaign is התיישבות 2030 (“hityashvut”) meaning Settlement 2030. In Hebrew, the word “hityashvut” means settlement, as in the establishment of communities.
Smotrich is very open about his goal to build up the Jewish community in their indigenous land, biblical Judea and Samaria (otherwise known as the West Bank). He would completely reject as totally absurd the notion that Jews settling in the heartland of the biblical Jewish homeland is “colonisation.” Certainly, he would never back an initiative entitled “Colonisation,” referring to Jews living in Judea and Samaria.
With reports flipping the truth on its heads, AFP and AP perform like satirical news site disguised as legitimate media outlets. Happy Purim!
For the Hebrew version of this post, see CAMERA Hebrew.