Is Gaza really like a concentration camp?

John Prusinski, a Massachusetts activist, minced no words as he spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a recent pro-Palestinian protest. “Right now, the people in Gaza are basically in an outdoor concentration camp,” he declared, despite never having been to Gaza.

Such polemics are nothing new. Academic Norman Finkelstein embraces the description, as do former presidential candidates Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul. Peter Beinart, a prolific pundit, and television anchor Mehdi Hasan appear to agree. Even former British Prime Minister David Cameron once likened the Palestinian territory to a “prison camp.”