The niece of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has been receiving medical treatment at an Israeli hospital for more than a month, even as Hamas rained down thousands of rockets on Israel, according to reports Thursday.
Haniyeh’s niece reportedly received a bone marrow transplant at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center.
“This not only [exposes] the hypocrisy of the organization whose charter is essentially genocidal and calls for Israel’s destruction, aside from not recognizing it as a legitimate political entity, but undermines the smear campaign Hamas has led in the international arena, seeking to portray Israel as cruel and uncaring about Palestinian lives, or in more extreme rhetorical cases, an apartheid or even a genocidal state” said human rights lawyer and national security analyst Irina Tsukerman to The Foreign Desk.
Despite reports that Haniyeh’s mother-in-law, daughter, and granddaughter also received medical treatment from Israel previously, Haniyeh openly celebrated the recent violent riots led by Arab Israelis and is encouraging a continued uprising, according to The Times of Israel.
Following the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, Haniyeh praised Hamas for successfully uprooting “the project of ‘coexistence’ with the Israeli occupation.”
Tsukerman points out the significance of Israel not releasing the information that it was caring for Haniyeh’s niece during the height of the conflict earlier this month.
“This was not merely a PR stunt by Israel, as [the niece’s] treatment has been under wraps for over a month, including at the height of the conflict, where it would be most advantageous from the information warfare perspective to disclose this information to the public,” said Tsukerman.
Haniyeh’s niece is one of many Hamas family members and Palestinians who have been taken in by Israel due to life-threatening medical circumstances.
“Haniyeh, hypocritically, will allow his own family to receive aid from an enemy state he seeks to destroy, both physically and in the media, but has indoctrinated Gazan residents to the extent that most would not even think of reaching out for such assistance,” Tsukerman continued.
“It is not in Israel’s interest to destroy people’s lives; rather, it is continuously welcoming any opportunity to provide assistance to people in need in hopes for a better future of peaceful coexistence and sharing of knowledge and best practices with neighbors. Organizations like Hamas that feed off hatred and divisions and can only rise to power by scapegoating and demonizing others, on the other hand, have nothing to offer and stand in the way of their own citizens having a better life.”
