How did the GHF ever see the light of day?
The minute that the Boston Consulting Group, a US management consulting firm, was named as the firm to help design the so-called neutral Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) program and run it business operations, both my eyebrows went sky high. BCG redesigns your post office, not a highly precarious aid initiative. Pretending the GHF is a neutral operation makes both Israel and the USA look idiotic. That the Mossad, who have made such a name for themselves with the Beeper operation in Lebanon, and other high level actions in Lebanon and Iran, are involved with this, tarnishes their name. Using a random foreign security company to secure such precarious areas also raises question marks. Who signed off on this? The need to shut Hamas out of aid distribution makes complete sense. However the people of Gaza, and the Israeli hostages, are entitled to the basic human right of food. The Israeli government needs to move fast on how they will move forward on this before a food related humanitarian disaster occurs. Foreign aid agencies need to cooperate with Israel instead of taking a “humane” stance that they’d rather let Gazans starve than work with Israel. And please just call this operation what it is; the Israeli US Gaza Food Distribution Group.
The Boston Consulting Group describes itself as a “global consulting firm that partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities’. Sound to anyone as an organization that can help develop and manage aid distribution in a war zone? I worked in consulting; you redesign supply processes, procurement, help management find a strategic direction. You give a nice powerpoint presentation which no one knows how to implement and you leave your client feeling intellectually superior, and the plan is usually never executed. Because that is the beauty in consulting, you don’t get paid depending on if the plan actually works.
I went over the BCG website wondering whether aid distribution in war zones was a new expertise that was developed. Nothing. They have a lot of opinions on climate change however. So I am not surprised that when the first guns went off on Launch Day they ran for the hills. Apparently only foreign consultants were used and apparently not the employees in their TLV office. The four hubs established are a start for distribution but inadequate. Now it is said that no one else can run the distribution hubs that have already been established? Nor deal with the contractors? The hubs are currently on the border, COGAT has shown itself an incredibly able coordinator with extensive knowledge and very capable people. The IDF has incredibly capably people. I’m scratching my head.
The use of an American private security company to safeguard the operations is also a question mark. The IDF needs boots on the ground to deal with Hamas, but how has this been coordinated and planned? I sincerely hope it was not BCG personnel, who know how to do scenarios on excel but I sincerely doubt know how to model potential attacks of Hamas gunmen and a run on aid sites. I could not find information on numbers of security personnel or any additional information on the ground at these GHF operations so if its adequate is a question mark. The IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet has more knowledge on Gaza and how to safeguard areas than anyone else, as well as the necessary language skills. To let the planning and execution up to inexperienced outsiders makes no sense and would naturally lead to disaster.
There is talk about needing neutrality for food distribution. Let’s get something straight; UNWRA and the other aid agencies worked hand in hand with Hamas, before Oct 7 and after. They argue it is a necessary cooperation for them to be able to work in the area and to help. It’s the largest aid agency scam the world has ever seen. At present, food and essentials are the currency in Gaza and Hamas is destitute without it, and the money it generates them on the secondary market. And let’s put neutrality aside; Gaza needs food, they don’t care where it comes from, and the UN and other agencies need to get off their high horses and work with Israel. I assure them, they are a better partner than Hamas.
