Honesty Hurts, but Lies Kill

The Death of Honesty: Why Israel Must Stand Alone in a World Built on Lies

“Honesty is the best policy.” That’s what we’re taught as kids. It’s what employers write in job descriptions. It’s what people claim to want in relationships, in leadership, in politics. But let’s get one thing straight; the world doesn’t reward honesty.

I should know. I lost two jobs because I was honest.

All I did was speak the truth,  that I support Israel. I didn’t bring it up. I didn’t rant. I just answered a question. Twice. And both times, my honesty got me fired.

In another job, as a project leader, I told a colleague that the report she wrote was a failure, not emotionally, not aggressively. Just a direct assessment. She cried. I got a coach. I was told to “soften” my delivery, to “sugarcoat” my thoughts. In other words;  lie.
But I don’t do that. I can’t. That’s not who I am.

My kids know that. My son loves tattoos. I hate them. He knows I hate them. Before getting one,  i say: “Don’t ask if I like it, because you know the answer.” And when he does ask, I still say, “Disgusting.” He laughs. We laugh. Because that’s real. That’s honest. And deep down, we all want that kind of truth, even if it stings.

But honesty has no place in modern politics.

Governments lie. Leaders manipulate. Entire wars are built on deliberate deceptions. Let me walk you through some of the most consequential lies of the past century, all real, all documented, all devastating.

The World’s Most Dangerous Lies

1. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964) – USA

Claim: North Vietnamese forces attacked American ships twice.
Truth: The second attack likely never happened.
Impact: Justified full-scale entry into the Vietnam War. Over 58,000 Americans died, millions of Vietnamese civilians perished, and a region was devastated, all based on a lie.

2. Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (2003) – USA & UK

Claim: Saddam Hussein had WMDs and ties to al-Qaeda.
Truth: No WMDs were ever found. Intelligence was manipulated.
Impact: Iraq was invaded, destabilized, and plunged into chaos, birthing terror groups like ISIS and leaving a human catastrophe in its wake.

3. Katyn Massacre Denial – Soviet Union

Claim: Nazi Germany murdered thousands of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest.
Truth: The Soviet Union did it and lied for 50 years.
Impact: Decades of mistrust, buried truths, and historical revisionism that destroyed Polish-Soviet relations.

4. The Downing of Korean Air Flight 007 (1983) – USSR

Claim: The plane was a spy aircraft.
Truth: It was a civilian airliner accidentally straying into Soviet airspace.
Impact: 269 innocent lives lost. Covered up, denied, and only admitted years later.

5. Crimea Invasion (2014) – Russia

Claim: “No Russian troops in Crimea.”
Truth: Russian troops seized it in plain sight. Putin later bragged about it.
Impact: Annexation, sanctions, and the launch of modern hybrid warfare against Ukraine.

6. Nayirah Testimony – Kuwait/USA

Claim: Iraqi soldiers were pulling babies from incubators.
Truth: The story was false. Nayirah was the Kuwaiti ambassador’s daughter, coached by PR firms.
Impact: Manipulated public opinion in favor of the Gulf War. Theatrics used to sell bloodshed.

Lies Are the Currency of the Middle East

But nowhere are lies more culturally normalized and even weaponized  than in the Middle East.

It’s not cynical to say that. It’s just factual.

There are religious and political frameworks that explicitly permit or encourage deception to serve greater strategic goals. Concepts like taqiyya (permissible deceit in Islam for self-protection) are not fringe , they’re part of the landscape. In this part of the world, deception isn’t just tolerated; it’s seen as smart politics.

Let’s look at the Arab-Israeli conflict through this lens,  a lens of lies told so many times, they became global “truths.”

The Middle East’s Greatest Deceptions About Israel

1. Egypt and Syria Before the Six-Day War (1967)

Claim: They were ready to wipe Israel off the map.
Truth: It was a bluff to assert regional dominance. When Israel preemptively struck, they were unprepared.
Impact: Israel survived. Arab pride collapsed. But the narrative was twisted: Israel the aggressor , not the survivor.

2. Yasser Arafat and the Oslo Accords

Claim: Peace with Israel.
Truth: In Arabic, Arafat said Oslo was just a tactic, referencing the Prophet Muhammad’s temporary truce with Meccans.
Impact: Israelis were misled. Violence returned. Peace was a performance, not a goal.

3. Arab States and the Palestinian Cause

Claim: Total, unified Arab support for Palestine.
Truth: Arab states used the Palestinian issue as a pawn, often suppressing Palestinians themselves ,  like in Jordan (Black September) or Lebanon (civil war).
Impact: Realpolitik won. The cause became a PR tool.

And Here It Is: The Greatest Lie of All

The invention of a Palestinian “nation.”

Let’s be honest,  brutally honest. There was never a Palestinian state in history. No currency. No king. No borders. No government. No independence. Before 1948, Arabs in that land identified as Southern Syrians or Arabs, not Palestinians. Even Arab leaders , including the PLO’s own founders, admitted it.

Palestinian national identity was invented as a political weapon ,  not a cultural or historical truth.

Why? Because you need a “nation” to be a victim of “occupation.” You need a backstory to claim a homeland. You need a lie, told enough times, to gain sympathy on the world stage.

And guess what? It worked.
The world swallowed it whole.
The UN rewarded it.
Western media amplified it.
Universities institutionalized it.
And now, we’re the ones called “colonizers” in our own land.

Israel, the only nation in the region with real history, democracy, and continuity  is demonized.
While a fictional state built on lies is sainted.

The Price of Believing Lies

Look where we are now:

• Hamas lies to its own people while launching war from schools and hospitals.
• Iran lies about its nuclear ambitions while plotting genocide.
• Western leaders lie to Israel about “unshakable alliances,” then push ceasefires to protect their own interests.
• And somehow, Israel is told to show restraint.

Well, no more.

The Case for Brutal Truth and Israeli Self-Reliance

Israel cannot afford to play the global PR game.
Israel cannot afford to trust any broker, power, or deal that is not rooted in reality.

Honesty doesn’t win in politics. But it wins in survival.

And the brutal, unfiltered truth is this:
Israel is alone. And that’s okay. Because Israel is strong.

We built a nation out of ashes.
We turned deserts into cities.
We survived seven wars.
We’ve been lied about, lied to, and lied over.

And we’re still here.

The world may live in fiction.
The Palestinians may sell a fantasy.
The media may distort.
And even former “friends” like Trump may turn their backs.

But Israel sees the truth.
And more importantly  Israel is the truth.