A view of Gaza City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

On Friday night, an explosion rocked Gaza’s Bianco Beach Resort — a luxurious resort that only opened its doors a month ago.

While Palestinian sources did not report any casualties, the powerful blast damaged the resort’s exterior wall, causing parts of it to collapse.

Chances are you didn’t read about this story, because — as of the publication of this article — only one journalist had filed a report about the attack with a major media outlet — The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh. Indeed, the United Nations didn’t launch a probe, and Human Rights Watch was nowhere to be found.

The simple reason for this silence is that Israel wasn’t involved.

Palestinian terrorists — allegedly with links to Islamic State-inspired groups — planted the bomb at Bianco Beach Resort after the venue refused to give in to demands to cancel a mixed-gender concert.

According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) — which, it must be stated, is a leading player in the global warfare campaign being waged against Israel:

Mr. Suhail al-Saqqa, the resort owner, stated that a person had arrived at the resort at approximately 19:30 on Wednesday, 4 August 2021; he identified himself and demanded the employees cancel a party scheduled for Thursday, 5 August. […]

It should be noted that a number of social media activists started an incitement campaign against the resort soon after the planned party was announced […]

Among the social media activists was the person who visited the resort and demanded its administration cancel the event. Additionally, the same person posted on social media after the explosion took place, stating that he did warn against holding the party.

The PCHR warned that other parties might be targeted as well, causing “terror among innocent citizens” and harming economic growth, eventually leading to the loss of job opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Association of Restaurants, Hotels and Tourism Services also condemned the bombing, calling it “immoral.”

Bianco Beach Resort consists of several villas with private swimming pools, hotel suites, a restaurant, and more. A promotional video on its Facebook page shows guests enjoying lavish meals and playing on the beach.

The opening of the luxurious resort highlighted the great inequality in the Gaza Strip — where between 600 and 1,200 millionaires live a comfortable life, while ordinary citizens suffer under Hamas’ rule.

Major media outlets repeatedly cited the PCHR when it accused Israel of war crimes during the 11-day conflict in May initiated by Gaza-based terrorists (see, for example, here, here, and here).

However, when Palestinian extremists are responsible for terrorizing civilians in the coastal enclave, publications like The New York Times, Associated Press and The Irish Times are suddenly disinclined to publish the PCHR’s statements.

This “blackout” is reminiscent of a recent similar incident. On July 24, 2021, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip called on Hamas and other armed groups to stop storing weapons in residential areas. The rare internal outcry followed a large explosion in Gaza City’s Al-Zawiya market, which killed one person and injured 14 others.

Although several media outlets were quick to report on the blast itself (see here, here, and here), they subsequently opted to ignore the news of the involvement of local terror group — even after Palestinian Islamic Jihad explicitly accepted responsibility for what it called a “tragic event.”

SIGNIFICANT: Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for storing weapons in densely-populated residential area in Gaza last week, leading to an explosion killing one person and wounding fourteen.

“We affirm that we will meet our responsibilities [regarding] this tragic event.” pic.twitter.com/JggG7zADnp

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 27, 2021

While Israelis and peace-seeking Palestinians are all victims of the extremism espoused by terror groups, it is crystal clear that media outlets are only interested when there is some prism through which to blame the Jewish state.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, where a version of this article first appeared.