https://alexepstein.substack.com/

“The Gaza Famine Myth;
“How lazy journalism, bad data, and skewed statistics fueled accusations of war crimes against Israel.”—
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-gaza-famine-myth
H/T Powerline blog.

Opening grafs (RTWT)

“Gaza Is Starving,” a headline in The New Yorker declared in early January 2024, pushing a harrowing narrative that took hold during the first six months of the war. In March, The Washington Post asked: “Is Gaza Heading Into Famine?” A headline in the Post the next day answered: “Israel’s War on Hamas Brings Famine to Gaza.”

In April 2024, Samantha Power, director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Biden administration, became the first senior U.S. official to declare that famine in Gaza had begun. She cited a report published by an independent, United Nations–affiliated monitoring system, called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Global Initiative (IPC).

First developed in 2004 with backing from the UN, the IPC has become the global gold standard for food security analysis. Using a data-driven, evidence-based, five-phase scale that ticks up as food supplies run low, the IPC is designed to shield the humanitarian goal of having enough to eat from the political pressures of war. Today, a famine is declared only when the IPC’s data about a region shows that at least 20 percent of households have run out of food, at least 30 percent of children are acutely malnourished, and two people out of every 10,000 are dying each day from starvation.

In 20 years, just four famines have been confirmed by the IPC: Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and Sudan in 2024. A confirmed famine in Gaza, as Power told Congress was happening, would have been a historic catastrophe and the first to occur outside continental Africa. Power’s statement bolstered claims that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war, and that the U.S. government was therefore complicit in an alleged war crime.

But there were serious problems with Power’s sensational testimony. Foremost among them: The IPC never declared a famine in Gaza. The report she cited was a projection of possible outcomes, not a conclusive finding. The next month, USAID issued its own analysis alleging that famine was underway, an indictment so serious that it required confirmation from an independent board of global experts known as the Famine Review Committee (FRC).

The FRC, which functions as the IPC’s final authority and quality control check, rebuked the USAID analysis, calling its conclusions insupportable. The failures were stunning….

The only question is how this article was ever able to get into FP.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920318945732837672.html

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920328683421872230.html

I live near a fairly busy intersection in my suburban town, and when the trees are leafless I can see a major road from my windows. It’s also an area with a large Hispanic population, many of whom I presume are illegals.
After the Covid restrictions were cancelled, there were still noticeably fewer people out and about. And since President Trump took office, a once bustling business district seems relatively deserted. (I presume that many illegals have self deported or are laying low.)

I also think a lot of people stay inside more, because they have Internet and streaming video and talk apps.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone – Johnny Rivers
https://youtu.be/OXDru4CfogY

Neo, I approached that cover of “Hallelujah” with misgivings, but I really enjoyed it. It didn’t hurt at all that I’m a sucker for a really good blues guitar, and Popa Chubby has it. I had not heard of him but I see from AMG that he’s been around since the mid-’90s.

(Somehow I thought Inslee would be governor forever…though maybe it feels like that?)

Cohen once remarked how touched he was by Columbia’s modesty in marketing his records!

I found my copy of “Various Positions” in a grubby used record store. Many great songs, along with “Night Comes On” and “Hallelujah. I am particularly fond of “The Captain.” It’s a dialog between a dying Captain and a Soldier.
____________________________________

Now the Captain called me to his bed
He fumbled for my hand
“Take these silver bars,” he said
“I’m giving you command.”

–Leonard Cohen, “The Captain” (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY5Zzahk2zA
____________________________________

It’s got a killer ending.