Posted on 10/16/2025 7:14:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Thomas Friedman poses a seemingly clever question in his New York Times column: How can Israel precisely target sites in Iran 1,200 miles away but struggle to safely deliver food to Gazans just 40 miles from Tel Aviv? The answer reveals the fundamental flaw in Friedman’s analysis.
The Reality of Food Distribution in Gaza
When Friedman envisions food distribution in Gaza, he apparently imagines orderly queues of civilians patiently waiting their turn. The reality could not be more different. These are chaotic scenes, with dozens-thick crowds, often including Hamas fighters embedded among civilians. These are not peaceful recipients, but frequently hostile mobs who view Israeli soldiers as occupying forces.
Hamas deliberately exploits these distribution points as strategic assets, using civilian desperation as cover for military operations. Hamas operatives steal aid supplies for their own fighters, sell humanitarian goods on black markets, and position weapons near distribution sites to provoke Israeli responses that generate negative publicity. Even Friedman describes Gazans “swarming” Israeli distribution sites, inadvertently confirming that these are not orderly queues, but chaotic mob scenes that pose genuine security threats.
When armed distributors face potential overrun by aggressive crowds, they respond in self-defense. Tragically, some innocents die in these mêlées. What alternative does Friedman suggest? Should Israel cease food distribution entirely? He would undoubtedly then accuse the Jewish state of promulgating deliberate starvation. Notably, no other nation in history has been expected to feed enemy civilians during active combat while that enemy continues holding its citizens hostage.
In stark contrast, Israel’s technological superiority enables precise long-distance strikes against terrorists 1,200 miles away. The comparison is absurd: One involves cutting-edge military technology against static targets; the other requires managing hostile crowds in active combat zones.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Friedman suggests that these deaths result from “something deeper, something quite shameful” within Netanyahu’s government, implying the deliberate targeting of hungry civilians. This accusation is both illogical and offensive.
According to Hamas’s own statistics, 65,000 Gazans have died in military operations. Does it make sense that Israel would now need to lure them with food to kill them? The premise is absurd. If elimination were the goal, why engage in the complex and dangerous process of food distribution at all?
Friedman mentions “terrible pictures of malnourished children” from Gaza. These images are indeed tragic, but who bears responsibility?
Hamas could end all civilian suffering immediately through two simple actions: release all remaining hostages unconditionally, and surrender or leave Gaza entirely. They have chosen neither path. Instead, Hamas continues to prioritize its genocidal ideology over Palestinian welfare.
The food is getting there it’s just not getting distributed. I’ve seen multiple videos showing evidence of this.
-SB
Thomas Friedman edges out Thomas B. Edsall as the dumbest columnist at the NYT. And that’s hard to do.
“The food is getting there it’s just not getting distributed”
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Isn’t that always the case?....Sudan, Haiti, Africa and on and on......unless we are there to actually serve the food very little usually gets to where it needs to be.
Friedman is a loyal soldier for the Communist destruction of America.
I thought Friedman retired. I guess he has time to spin up a anti Jew column on short notice. It’s obvious that he knows nothing about Hamas hijacks food aid and resells it at exorbitant prices.
Smug/leftist......same thing right?
Yup. It gets distributed to the top dogs and they might sell it to those that really need it.
It seems to me that the only way to rid anyone of HAMAS is to pick them out separately & then deal with them in a way they’d understand.
In seriousness, why does Israel think they can get away with this, then? My guess is that Israel is so liberal, that the thought of NOT doing this does not even occur to them.
Agreed.
Unfortunately.
Thomas Friedman is a purposeful propagandist, because no one - even on the left (sans purple hair and nose ring) - can be that obtuse.
Friedman wears his ideology like the Michelin man, and then has trouble understanding why he cannot get out the door of the progressive building in which he is trapped and talk to average people.
LET FREIDMAN BE THERE IN PERSON
Hamas terrorist fighters are first in line to collect any aid for their black market operations. That’s why Israel needs to empty all of Gaza and move these terrorists to one of the surrounding islamic countries which have more than enough land to resettle them.
https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel/64468
Famine? Genocide?
Gazans throw away sacks of UN flour, just take the wooden pallets, because price of flour is down to 5 shekels ($1.50) for a 25kg sack. We’ve seen this happen again and again during the war.
Timestamp: 6 days ago
(Imshin)
If your enemy commits the war crime of trying to make its soldiers indistinguishable from non-combatants, the civilians will suffer. If the terrorist enemy steals food intended for noncombatants, whose fault is that? Not Israel’s. Friedman can’t be as stupid as it would seem. He is a Hamas propagandist.
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