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| Palestinian PM Shtayyeh cutting ribbon on new cancer center |
Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh, speaking at the opening of the National Center for Diagnosis of Cancer and Genetic Diseases, said “We have 6251 cancer patients, a high percentage compared to neighboring countries, because the Israelis use our land as a landfill…This is a big number, and the main reason is the Israeli occupation’s nuclear and chemical waste. We will sue them for this criminal act against the citizens and the land.”
This is a complete and utter inversion of the truth.
In reality, the (crude) Palestinian cancer rate is 89 per 100,000 people, far less than the world average of 237 and less than one third the Israeli rate of 316. (The age standardized rates are closer, but still significantly lower for the West Bank and Gaza – 159 – that the world average of 198 and the Israeli ASR of 234.)
Palestinians get cancer at a much lower rate than Israelis. Perhaps they should thank the “occupation!”
Why do Palestinians get cancer? Well, their rate of cigarette smoking among men is 40%, so that would be the obvious explanation – unless you want to politicize your own people’s cancer deaths as a weapon against Israel.
Shtayyeh further lies by falsely claiming that Israel dumps nuclear waste in the territories. It doesn’t.. At the moment it is buried near the Dimona nuclear plant in Israel. (Syria makes the same false claim against Israel, charging that nuclear waste is buried in the Golan.)
What other world leader, especially one dependent on foreign aid, is able to lie with such impunity?
The Palestinian prime minister is telling the world baldfaced lies about Israel. As usual, no reporter for any major media outlet bothers to check the facts and publicly show him to be a liar. This is the media’s job. Yet when it comes to Palestinians, the media abdicates its responsibility in favor of pushing a false narrative about the conflict.
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