Israel Matzav

Video: The tunnel diggers of Gaza

This video is kind of long - when I started watching it, I did not realize that it runs half an hour. It's about Gaza's (or actually Rafah's) tunnel diggers into Egypt. You will note that the tunnel diggers are children. Yes, once again, the 'Palestinians' are abusing children. I'm sure that will not shock most of you. The fact that children are digging the tunnels means that children get killed when the tunnels collapse and children are in danger when the IDF bombs the tunnels. But from Israel's perspective, the tunnels must be shut down.

A few comments I jotted down as I watched this video.

Where are these kids' parents? Why do the kids need money so much? There's a partial answer to this question at 26:30. But the real answer is that the parents don't work except at smuggling. Gaza has never developed an economy. Hamas and Fatah have never been interested in developing an economy or in the other characteristics of a state. They only want to destroy Israel. One of the contrasts of the current war is that the Israeli economy is suffering from it because all of our reserves are missing work. The 'Palestinian' economy doesn't exist, so Hamas can - and will if they are able to - keep the war going forever. It doesn't cost them anything. In fact, if anything, it will likely net them several billion dollars more in international assistance.

Notice how much they hate Egypt. In fact, they hate Egypt more than Israel. They understand that the reason they are locked in is because Egypt won't let them out. Egypt doesn't want the 'Palestinians.' Neither do any of the other Arab countries. I don't know enough about Arab tribal divisions to understand why all the Arabs hate the 'Palestinians' - who are rumored to be the most intelligent of all the Arabs - but it should be clear to everyone that the fact that these people are still 'refugees' after all these years is because their Arab brethren hate them and have hated them all along. I would guess it's a tribal thing.

If they're 'mostly' importing cigarettes, where are all the weapons coming from? You mean you don't believe that claim either?

Note that the tunnel owners were upset that the Rafah wall to Egypt came down last year.... Yes, the tunnels are a business. That means that there are 'Palestinians' who are profiting from the blockade and have an interest in it continuing. Hamas profits from the blockade - they collect taxes on the tunnels' goods. Egypt may be profiting too - it has a captive market. That may also be why Hamas shoots at Israeli convoys bringing in humanitarian aid. Those of you who have had a basic economics course know that in a free market, the balance between supply and demand controls price. If you reduce supply while demand stays the same, the price will go up. Hamas wants to keep the prices high - especially when it is able to intercept much of the supply and sell it to its own supporters (at high prices) as a reward for their cooperation. It's a great way to control people.

Note the lady at the 18:00 mark who talks about how Hamas knows all about the tunnels. That confirms what I said in the previous paragraph. But then, we all knew that.

Note that these 'poor kids' use a computer and Google Earth to dig tunnels. The computers are probably supplied by the wealthy tunnel owners. And I've discussed nefarious uses for Google Earth before. But what's curious is how these kids - who are apparently lousy students - managed to learn to use the computers.

Let's go to the videotape. I'll have a final comment afterward.



The sad part about this tape is what it says about the future of these kids. What are the odds of them ever making an honest living? What are the odds of them being productive members of a normal society? Probably not much better than those of their little brothers and sisters who run weapons to Hamas 'fighters.' And that may be the saddest thing of all about this video.

UPDATE 1:47 PM

Blue Eye has pictures of what the IDF bombing has done to the area near the Rafah border including the destruction of the "Tent City" used by the smugglers. The pictures are of the same area that we saw in the film. The text is in Hebrew, but even for those who don't understand Hebrew, it's worth clicking over there to check out the pictures.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:22 AM