Controlling the Untermenschen

Israel once again demonstrates its unflagging commitment to human rights:

"After all my responses [the Shin Bet agent] said to me: 'I want to talk to you openly when you return from Israel so that you will have an acceptable reputation on the Israeli side. Either you make contact with me and agree to my demands, or you will not get any medical treatment which will cause you to be blind and you will become a burden to your family and friends,'" Wahidi said in his affidavit.

But he said he refused and was forced to return to Gaza without receiving any treatment. Now the 28-year-old, who married a year and a half ago, is completely blind in his right eye and losing the vision in his overstrained left eye.

"I might divorce because I can't stand in front of my wife as a disabled person," Wahidi said .

He is one of an unknown number of patients from Gaza who have been denied medical treatment after refusing to inform on their friends, neighbours and relatives. Many patients feel they are being forced to choose between preserving their life or protecting their community. Physicians for Human Rights says such pressure amounts to coercion and extortion.

More details on Wahidi's case here, including this:

Mr Al Wahidi – who had previously been given an exit permit – says he made clear that he would not co-operate, and that he would go to human rights organisations, the Red Cross and the press. He claims that Moshe, who had earlier said he was losing his patience, laughed and added: "What you are talking about does not exist in the dictionary of the IDF."

Apparently Moshe somehow missed the "IDF is the most moral army in the world" memo.

A quick quiz: which of the following headlines for stories about this PHR report comes from the Washington Post?

1. Israel's Shin Bet 'coerces ill Palestinians into becoming informants'
2. Israel demands Gaza patients be informants
3. Gazans' Access to Care Faulted
4. Does The Shin Bet Decide Who Lives And Dies In Gaza?

See here for the deeply shocking answer.

Comments

[Save the Oocytes]

"Gazans' Access to Care Faulted"

Gee, I wonder what's wrong with it? The stupid Gazans must not be building enough hospitals.

[John Caruso]

It's an extraordinary headline, because there's almost no interpretation under which it makes sense, and no interpretation at all that relates it to the underlying story. But if service to Israel requires crafting unintelligible headlines, the Post's editors are clearly up to the job.