FACT To mask their antisemitism, many people claim they only hate “Zionists,” “Israelis,” “colonists,” or “settlers,” not Jews, but these are only euphemisms. Opposition to the Jewish state has become a socially acceptable way to express anti-Jewish attitudes. As British author Howard Jacobson observed, “Israel has become the pretext [for …
Read More »Myths & Facts.
MYTH As “People of the Book,” Jews and Christians are protected under Islamic law.
FACT This argument is rooted in the traditional concept of the “dhimma” (“writ of protection”), which was extended by Muslim conquerors to Christians and Jews in exchange for their subordination to the Muslims. Yet, as French authority Jacques Ellul has observed, “One must ask: ‘protected against whom?’ When this ‘stranger’ …
Read More »MYTH: The al-Aqsa Mosque is Palestinian
Fact. The al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is not a Palestinian shrine. It is considered the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. After the Six-Day War, to avoid enflaming the Islamic world, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan agreed the Muslim authorities (the Waqf) would …
Read More »Israel “occupies” the West Bank.
FACT In politics, language matters, and the misuse of words applying to the Arab-Israeli conflict has shaped perceptions to Israel’s disadvantage. As in the case of the term “West Bank,” the word “occupation” has been hijacked by those who wish to paint Israel in the harshest possible light. It also …
Read More »Palestinians ‘People-hood’ Based on a Big Lie.
The Palestinians claim that they are an ancient and indigenous people fails to stand up to historic scrutiny. Most Palestinian Arabs were newcomers to British Mandate Palestine. Until the 1967 Six-Day War made it expedient for Arabs to create a Palestinian people-hood, local Arabs simply considered themselves part of the …
Read More »Nakba: The Arab Self-Inflicted Catastrophe
As the British began to dismantle their Mandate [The British Mandate] and leave western Palestine, Israel’s War of Independence began (November 30, 1947 – May 14, 1948). During the war, Palestinian Arabs became belligerents in the conflict, and by its end, rather than accept a Jewish state after five-and-a-half months …
Read More »MYTH: Israelis should be prosecuted for war crimes by International Criminal Court.
FACT: The Palestinians have for years tried to convince the International Criminal Court (ICC) to charge Israeli soldiers and politicians with war crimes. The approach to the ICC is part of the desperate effort by Palestinians to find some international body that will force Israel to capitulate to their demands. …
Read More »MYTH:Israeli human rights organization accurately compared Israel to South Africa.
FACT: B’Tselem calls itself an Israeli human rights organization, but it has become one of the go-to sources for reporters looking to demonize Israel (Seth J Frantzman, “B’Tselem’s Israel ‘apartheid’ accusation masks its own sinister agenda,” The JC January 14, 2021). It was, therefore, not surprising the group’s latest report …
Read More »MYTH: Trump peace plan does not offer Palestinians a capital in Jerusalem.
FACT: Critics falsely argued the Trump peace plan is not consistent with a two-state solution. In fact, it specifically provides for a Palestinian state and goes into great detail about various elements of that state including its borders, treatment of refugees, and security obligations. It also meets the Palestinian demand …
Read More »MYTH: Palestinian maps reflect their goal of coexistence with Israel.
FACT: One of the principal criticisms of Israel’s desire to apply sovereignty to some or all of Judaea and Samaria (West Bank) as allowed under the Trump peace plan is that it will make a two-state “solution” more difficult, if not impossible. Setting aside the demographic issue (more than 100,000 …
Read More »MYTH: The UAE betrayed the Palestinians by establishing relations with Israel
“I never expected this poison dagger to come from an Arab country,” Saeb Erekat complained after the UAE-Israel agreement was signed. “You are rewarding aggression. … You have destroyed, with this move, any possibility of peace between Palestinians and Israelis” (“Palestinians Say UAE Deal Hinders Quest for Mideast Peace,” AP, …
Read More »MYTH: The Temple Mount is solely an Islamic holy site.
FACT: Orwell famously said, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” This is the goal of the tyrannical majority of the UN General Assembly and associated agencies such as UNESCO and the Human Rights Council. Acting more like the old Soviet Politburo than …
Read More »President Obama Misunderstands Our Promised Land.
Revisiting UN Resolution 181 – The Partition Plan November 29, 1947 In his latest book, A Promised Land, President Obama seems to rewrite history. While he gets much wrong about Israel’s wars and struggles to survive, what is most striking is his misunderstanding of her founding. Perhaps it is time …
Read More »Mandate for Palestine.
Mandate for Palestine Sovereignty over the Land of Israel London – July 24, 1924 The Mandate for Palestine, a historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere western Palestine, a 10,000- square-miles area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Mandate’s …
Read More »MYTH : The Temple Mount is solely an Islamic holy site.
FACT: Orwell famously said, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” This is the goal of the tyrannical majority of the UN General Assembly and associated agencies such as UNESCO and the Human Rights Council. Acting more like the old Soviet Politburo than …
Read More »MYTH: Palestinian “honor killings” are a thing of the past.
FACT: Honor killings are perpetrated against a family member (almost always a woman) who is judged to have acted socially or culturally unacceptably and brought dishonor to the family. According to the Palestinian Human Rights and Democracy Media Center, there were 20 honor killings in the West Bank and Gaza …
Read More »MYTH: Palestinian “honor killings” are a thing of the past.
FACT: Honor killings are perpetrated against a family member (almost always a woman) who is judged to have acted socially or culturally unacceptably and brought dishonor to the family. According to the Palestinian Human Rights and Democracy Media Center, there were 20 honor killings in the West Bank and Gaza …
Read More »MYTH: UAE betrayed the Palestinians by establishing relations with Israel.
FACT: “I never expected this poison dagger to come from an Arab country,” Saeb Erekat complained after the UAE-Israel agreement was signed. “You are rewarding aggression. … You have destroyed, with this move, any possibility of peace between Palestinians and Israelis” (“Palestinians Say UAE Deal Hinders Quest for Mideast Peace,” …
Read More »MYTH: British helped Jews displace the native Arab population of Palestine.
FACT: Herbert Samuel, a British Jew who served as the first High Commissioner of Palestine, placed restrictions on Jewish immigration “in the ‘interests of the present population’ and the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the country” (Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World, (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1970), p. 172; Howard Sachar, A …
Read More »MYTH: British helped Jews displace the native Arab population of Palestine.
FACT: Herbert Samuel, a British Jew who served as the first High Commissioner of Palestine, placed restrictions on Jewish immigration “in the ‘interests of the present population’ and the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the country” (Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World, (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1970), p. 172; Howard Sachar, A …
Read More »