New Libel: Palestinians Say Israel Destroyed COVID-19 Test Center in Hebron

Illegal private building in Hebron suddenly becomes “COVID-19 Health Center” as Palestinian corona propaganda war against Israel continues unchecked.

By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

An Israeli watchdog group that monitors Palestinian media says Palestinians are now trying to cover up illegal private construction by claiming that Israel deliberately destroyed a “COVID-19 health center.”

Palestinians don’t just have an audience of willing dupes to spread their propaganda, so they’ve taken lessons in fake news from the experts, says Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) .

“Whether you attribute the quote to Mark Twain, Winston Churchill or Jonathan Swift, the fact is that ‘a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.’ This age-old adage took on new life when a lie invented by Palestinian sources spread like wildfire around the globe,” said Maurice Hirsch, director of Legal Strategies at PMW.

PMW researchers discovered that Israeli authorities knocked down an illegal structure in Hebron that was erected without a building permit. The owner originally said the building would be an automobile show room.

Quick to smell an opportunity to manipulate public opinion that is sensitive to anything related to the global pandemic, Palestinian sources posted on social media that Israel had deliberately destroyed a COVID-19 testing center located in Hebron, which is currently a hotspot for COVID-19 cases.

Knowing that people reading social media would not know the difference, the Palestinians added a computer graphic image showing a “COVID-19 Health Center” in the same general shape as the illegal building, but with the sign in English only, even though health centers belonging to the Palestinian Authority have signs in Arabic – the local language.

“Only after Israeli authorities issued a destruction order for the structure did the Mayor of Hebron, Tayseer Abu Sneina, suddenly inform the owner that he was working with the PA Ministry of Health and with the Governor of the Hebron District to turn the structure into a COVID-19 testing and isolation center,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch noted that Abu Sneina is a released terrorist convicted of the 1980 terror attack in Hebron that claimed the lives of six yeshiva students – three Israelis, two Americans and a Canadian.

Although the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) responded in both Arabic and English that the claim had no validity, the fake and libelous tweets were shared and re-tweeted widely by many, including Palestinian agitators and foreign anti-Israel activists.

Chris Doyle, whose Twitter profile presents him as a “commentator on Middle East, international politics and director of @Caabu Council for Arab-British Understanding,” was quick to adopt and amplify the lie. Dolye, basing his comments on the lie, was even quick to suggest that those responsible for such an egregious action should be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court.

“In this manner, a blatant and malicious lie against Israel took hold and spread “halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on,”” Hirsch said.