One of the photos which impacted tremendously on the media throughout the world against Israel was one depicting a Gaza one-and-a-half-year-old child held in his mother's arms, looking altogether in a state of advanced starvation.
The Arab photographer says that he found the mother and son homeless, having been dispossessed of their home in the Gaza Strip, presently living in an insecure tent in Gaza City itself which contains no more than a small stove. This photographer says that the boy's weight dropped from nine kilo to a mere six — half the average weight of a healthy boy of his age. Leading media in the world pounced upon this photo, while the British Daily Express, considered pro-Israel, published it on the full length front page.
Undoubtedly a sordid picture, but something about it should have aroused certain questions. The mother, holding the child in her arms, appears to be in the prime of health. The signs of extreme malnourishment which had reduced her son to a mere skeleton, are not apparent in her and do not show that she is also suffering from the same, which raises the question how the mother eats normally, while her con is starving to death. None of the media displaying the photo seemed to have voiced this question but simply accepted it as a clear testimony of the famine extant in Gaza.
That is, until along came an independent reporter, David Collier, who made an investigation on the photo which revealed that the child is not suffering from advanced starvation at all, but from rare genetic diseases, including cerebral palsy and a low saturation of the blood.
Collier based his findings on a medical report of the "Basma Association for Aid in Gaza," signed and certified by Gaza physician, Dr.Sa'id Mohammed el Naasan. The report states that the child has required special food supplements from the time of his birth in December 2023, two months after the outbreak of the war, and that his complex medical condition is due a chronic disease which affects his muscles, movement and balance.
In addition, Collier noted that the photographer who publicized the photo avoided showing a picture of his older brother, a boy of three, in the prime of health like his mother. The British news agency which held a brief interview with the mother, heard from her that the child suffered from various rare genetic diseases but the broadcaster ignored her words, causing the viewers to believe that the child's health condition was due to the extant starvation in the whole Gaza Strip.
But who is interested in the facts? The main objective is to spread lies, disgusting blood libels, and blame Israel for all of the Hamas' evils.
