Hamas, Israel and chocolate bars shake up social media
Israeli security officials intercepted a shipment of sweets arriving from Egypt to southern Israel, via the Nitzana border post.
REUTERS / Ronen Zvulun
Text by: Alice Froussard Follow
4 min
Some 23 tons of candy bars that were destined for Gaza were confiscated by Israel last week on the pretext that they could have been used to raise funds for Hamas.
The information has especially made many Internet users smile and it has remained one of the topics of the moment on social networks.
Advertising
Read more
From our correspondent in the occupied Palestinian territories,
Israeli security officials intercepted a shipment of sweets arriving from Egypt to southern Israel, via the Nitzana border post.
There was a joint investigation by Israeli military intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Financing Office and the National Cargo Inspection Center of the tax authorities.
Investigation which concluded that the products, these 23 tons of chocolate bars, were headed for Gaza and that they were going to be sold by Hamas to generate revenue because they belong to two Gazan companies: al-Mutahidun Currency Exchange and Arab al- Sin, who Israel claims have alleged ties to the ruling Islamist organization.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz therefore signs a confiscation order, and Israel ends up with all these chocolates.
So, some Internet users laughed a lot, especially on Twitter comparing Israel "
to a cartoon villain who stings candy
".
It sometimes goes unnoticed but part of imperialism and apartheid is that you end up an actual cartoon villain stealing literal candy bars from children.
https://t.co/lWPDbCMonh
- ProfessorCirno (@ProfessorCirno) August 16, 2021
Others bluntly scoffed at allegations that Hamas was funded by the sale of chocolates, as in this tweet: “
Ah yes, the famous Hamas funding source which is also used by high school clubs and school teams. basketball amateurs
”.
ah yes, hamas's notorious funding source which is also used by high school clubs and little league baseball teams https://t.co/MjjdZ3EVwH
- amit dadon (@amit_dadon) August 16, 2021
A story that is ultimately not so rare in Gaza
Right now, 2.1 million Gazans are anxiously awaiting reconstruction, more than 3 months after eleven days of war last May.
There is a lack of everything in the coastal enclave under blockade, cement, concrete, iron, glass and money which should arrive "
in the weeks to come
" according to Israel, which announces that it has reached an agreement with Qatar.
On social networks, James Zogby, the founder of the Arab American Institute, specifies that this confiscation of chocolate bars shows above all how Israel can control the Gaza Strip "
like guards who control a prison
".
What ?!
“Israel seizes 23 tons of chocolate intended as funding for Hamas” - there are so many things wrong here, I want to lay them out.
1. Israel just can't be allowed to say they don't occupy Gaza.
They control it like prison guards control a prison…
https://t.co/HTH7JgQQNE
- James J. Zogby (@ jjz1600) August 17, 2021
According to him, if the Hebrew state reserves the right to confiscate these tons of goods, it is by using the argument of the financing of terrorism; so there is a good reason - and we agree - to cut all funding. Only here, and this is what many Internet users also point out, in Gaza, Hamas is also in the government and therefore many companies are linked to the organization, making the arrival of any merchandise, material very complicated. , or just any fund, even for humanitarian purposes. Making everything much more complicated.
On Twitter, Palestinians speak of "
sanctions and boycott imposed on Gazans by Israel
", in particular with the tightening of the blockade, the Israeli repressions which intensified and which suffocate the Palestinian enclave.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Israel
Gaza
Social networks
our selection