THUMBS DOWN to blue [sic], a trendy “adventure lifestyle” magazine, for its recent photo essay entitled “Israel/Palestine: Images From the Inside” (vol. 4, n. 1). The text, by Derek Loosvelt, includes a time-line which reveals a vast ignorance of the subject.
For example, the entry for 1150 BC absurdly claims: “The seafaring Philistines . . . invade the area, which is now known as Palestine. . . .” In fact, the land did not become known as “Palestine” until more than 1000 years later.
blue‘s bizarre history hits laughable lows with the statement that in the 600s AD, “Muslims build the dome of the Rock, a shrine on the site of the Jewish Third Temple” [emphasis added]. Jews praying daily over the last two millennia for the building of the Third Temple evidently were unaware of this development.
Loosvelt’s knowledge of modern history is equally shaky. About Hamas, he writes: “Described by CNN as a grass roots Palestinian organization known in Gaza and the West Bank for humanitarian efforts. The military wing of Hamas, Izzedine al-Quassam, has been accused of carrying out attacks and suicide people bombings that have killed dozens of people in Israel.”
The terrorist group regularly takes credit for its actions; there is no doubt that Hamas is responsible for the deaths of hundreds–not dozens–of Israelis.