How the Washington Post Reported on the Closing of the Rafah Crossing, and Why

Here’s the headline of the Washington Post report on the closing of the Rafah crossing in Gaza: “With Rafah crossing closed by Israel, Gazans have no way out,” by Miriam Berger and Hajar Harb, Washington Post, June 15, 2024:

Israel’s offensive in Rafah, aimed at eliminating Hamas’s last battalions, has dashed any hope of escape for ill and injured Palestinian civilians.

Elder of Ziyon doesn’t let this untruth pass without comment: “Pro-Hamas @WashingtonPost reporter falsely blames Israel, not Egypt, for Rafah crossing closing,” Elder of Ziyon, June 16, 2024:

Exactly when did Israel close the Rafah crossing?

It didn’t. Egypt did.

As The National (UAE) reported May 16:

Egypt has told Israel it will not reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza while Israeli troops remain on the Gazan side, sources told The National, as the row between the two countries deepens.

“Egypt will not reopen the crossing and that’s its final position despite significant US pressure on Cairo to do so,” one source said.

This was reported widely – by the BBC, Reuters and others over the past month.

The major media reported — correctly — that it was Egypt, not Israel, that refused to reopen the Rafah crossing so that more aid could get through. It was Egypt, not Israel, that was being pressured by the Bidenites to reopen the crossing. The BBC, Reuters, and many other media outlets not known for favoring Israel got it right. Why then did the Washington Post, almost alone, get the story wrong?

That’s only the start of how this article bends over backwards to blame Israel for decisions Egypt has made. 

The entire article gives Egypt a pass on not allowing Gazans to take refuge there even though tens of thousands have been trying.  It doesn’t mention that thousands of patients have been requested to leave Gaza to go abroad, and Egypt has denied them. 

The Egyptians have steadfastly refused to allow Gazans to enter their country, including those who have no intention of staying but want merely to use it as a transit point on their way to other countries, both in Europe and the Gulf. Egypt has even denied entry to the thousands of Gazans who are desperate to receive medical treatment abroad.

So how could the Washington Post get it so wrong?

Because the reporter is an antisemite and a Hamas fan. 

One of the authors of the article, Hajar Harb, posted her support for the Hamas massacre of October 7 in a series of posts on her Facebook page, as CAMERA documented. For example, when the death toll of Israelis reached 600, she made a graphic of flowers making the number 600, writing,  “Although the flowers are a waste on them [the dead Israelis], just the number [of dead] is sweet.” 

Commenting on a photo of 85-year old Yafa Arad being kidnapped into Gaza, Harb wrote: “See this place ma’am? Allah willing, you’ll remain inside with us for a while.”

A photo of  Shir, Ariel and Kfir Bibas being taken by terrorists into Gaza prompted Harb to celebrate: : “[this is] your home and your spot, you and your children.”…

Kfir Bibas was only eight months old when kidnapped by Hamas, a kidnapping that, in her posting on social media, Hajar Harb takes evident pleasure in, just as she did in the kidnapping of the 85-year-old Yafa Arad.

Who is minding the store at the Washington Post? Once Hajar Harb had repeatedly posted on social media her delight in the Hamas attack of October 7, and in the mass kidnapping of Israelis — she ghoulishly mentions both the oldest, the 85-year-old Yafa Arad, and the youngest, 8-month-old Kfir Bibas, once both the Washington Post and Telegraph (UK) had described her support for the terror group, why did the Washington Post continue to employ her as a reporter? And why has the Washington Post still not issued a correction, and an apology, for attributing the closing of the Rafah crossing to Israel, when it was Egypt that was the one responsible?

Questions, questions.