by Barry Rubin
About 10-20 slanders (at least) are
issued against Israel each day. They are frequently complete
fabrications and from academia, media, or accusations mostly made up out
of whole cloth. Lying is either simply reported irresponsibly or with
participation in the “big lie.” Institutions and personal careers are
benefitted by such moves.
Last month, a former Canadian
ambassador–who seems to have been earning a living completely on the
misrepresentation of Israel–made a horrifying announcement. He announced
that an Israeli Jewish civil rights lawyer had been attacked by
settlers in the West Bank. But actually, the lawyer has said that this
isn’t true. In fact, he had rocks thrown at him by Palestinians.
After a terrorist in Israel murdered a soldier by knifing him while he was sleeping on a bus, the New York Times
photograph only showed the terrorist’s family. The newspaper apparently
expected that the sympathy should be given to the terrorist, who might
have to do prison time. But so what? It does not matter if each specific
lie is exposed. Nobody is going to change their behavior by proving
these findings. This certainly doesn’t mean that Israelis never lie and
Palestinians never tell the truth, but if we’re talking about what the
Israeli state would never do and what the Palestinian state would do,
that’s different. Just as in the Cold War, we could easily tell the
difference between England and Bulgaria. But as mentioned, the media
does not make it a point to spend significant time and money exposing
the truth.
After all, there have been such lies
told about Jews for over 2,000 years. There has been a dense history of
attempts to hate Jews and not have sympathy for them. Is this a
surprise? Are some credible people inclined to believe these things? For
example, a senior Saudi cleric announced that soccer was a Jewish plot;
another complained that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion–which many
Arabs believe to be true–dictated all of modern Egyptian history. Are
ideological extremists (of the left or the right) showing a strong
inclination to resist this? Did the New York Times cover the Holocaust in depth when it was happening? In other words, what exists here is a situation in which:
- Some are sympathetic to the truth
- Some will swallow lies.
- Some will spread lies for political advantage.
Is that anything new? For example, it
is probable that millions of people read blogs denying Israeli claims
that some specific lie is not true. Again, I don’t think there is a
point in denying every lie. If one wants to do something, one should
assess the truth. Once again, the problem with the Arab-Israeli conflict
is not accidental; it is the natural result of two things:
- The Arab-Islamic general refusal to recognize Israel ever
- The Arab-Islamic inability to destroy Israel.
Get it? I must admit that the funniest falsehood is simply the result of hutzpah (audacity).
A recent New York Times article was titled, “Gaza Need Not Be a Sewer.”
Now, let us think that you are a rational person. Let us think that you
do not have a mere illogical clicker. Wouldn’t it be obvious to think
this?
Of course Gaza need not be a sewer.
For one thing, the Hamas government could have used the chance of
getting a lot of money from oil producers, but then it would have to not
wage war on Israel forever. Hamas would be expected to pay its
electricity bills, and not expect Israel to provide it electricity for
free while under the threat of destruction. It would not use antisemitic
stereotypes in a clear sense that conveys genocide. And note that
Hamas’s involvement in Egypt would be criticized. If Gaza had followed
this policy, it wouldn’t have to be a sewer.
After the disengagement of Jewish
settlements in Gaza, Israeli approach was that they would leave behind
much of the equipment for the PA, in order to set a good example. Yet
Fatah sold or destroyed everything that was left behind. It is quite
likely that Hamas also earned a large amount of money from this.
Really then, is Gaza’s problem
Israel’s fault? Did Israel have an alternative given Hamas’ desire to
wage war on Israel? The point is that it is assumed that somehow Gaza
could have become a paradise, and it was Israel’s fault that it didn’t.
In addition, this situation is going to continue as such.
And by the way, Hamas is now helping
revolutionary Islamists in Egypt and adding creating another enemy. This
gets Gaza deeper embroiled in regional hostilities.
If you lie systematically about someone else, you will not find the truth about yourself.
Barry Rubin
Source: http://www.gloria-center.org/2013/12/lying-about-israel/
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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