The skyline of Gaza City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Here is a press release from the latest anti-Israel publicity stunt:

Join Gaza’s Ark on November 30th as hundreds of Palestinian children sail mini-Arks from the port of Gaza out to sea. The event begins at 12:30PM Gaza Time, on Saturday November 30th, in the Port of Gaza, near Gaza’s Ark. Representatives of different Palestinian civil society organizations will address the effects of the blockade on children in Gaza.

“You can help brighten a dark path. Lead the way and sail with the children of Gaza towards freedom.” says Heba Hayek of Gaza, a member of Gaza’s Ark committee.

This project is bringing attention to the devastating conditions for children living inside the Gaza Strip, as fuel to run their society and other essentials have been denied to them. Theshortage has caused sewage pumps to stop working, spilling raw sewage onto the streets. Kids have to wade through contaminated muck on their way to school, and anoutbreak of disease is just waiting to happen. Children can’t study at night, because there is no electricity, and many of them are reading by candlelight.

Renowned linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky adds:

“It was incredibly moving, and inspiring, to learn about the Mini Arks that are to sail from Gaza on November 30. The courage and heroism of the people of Gaza, enduring shocking crimes and torture, is one of the wonders of the age. I hope that the arks that the children are sending forth will at least reach the conscience of the world, and help bring these horrors to an end.”

These Palestinian children are filled with hope and a desire to let the world know they have the right to freedom of movement. And we at Gaza’s Ark are determined to help them.

This is really a fundraiser for the main event: “Gaza Ark,” a real boat that will try to leave Gaza in March and fight “against the Israeli blockade.”

Yet their press release tries to pull the heartstrings because of Gaza’s power problems, which have nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with Egypt and internal Hamas-Fatah politics.

Sometimes, they are smart enough not lie explicitly. They know that decades of anti-Israel propaganda plus their own downplaying of any Arab responsibility for Palestinian Arab suffering will inevitably cause the ignorant people who read their literature to blame Israel anyway.

Which is, of course, their goal.