On spotting liars in the news

Fake news is nothing new, but it’s rising to new ‘heights’ for sure

Top liars first share a bit of truth to entice us to gain access to our brains. Stop listening as soon as they start lying! First, three examples of this.

Reverse Causality

“I feel for the Jews who went through the Holocaust, but why make innocent people, the Palestinian People, pay for that?” While the Muslim-Palestinian leadership became allies with Hitler (but was never punished for that), modern Zionism predates the Holocaust by 100 years. It was Arab Antisemitism that prevented a bi-national State. The Land is large enough for everyone as long as there is no attempt at genocide.

“Jews do to others what was done to them (the Holocaust).” The opposite is true. Old Antisemitic myths are made more robust to counter Holocaust guilt. “It’s the Jews who mass murder babies, commit genocide,” etc.

A sad but powerful example of this trick we saw recently. Chamas killed and maimed the largest number of Jews in one day since the Holocaust. Their barbarianism shocked the whole world. So, what did Antisemites do? They started demonstrations against made-up “war crimes” by Israel and its “crimes against humanity.” Incensed marches shouting for revenge for Israel’s atrocities. Right in front of our eyes, executed by the international media, Antisemitic dictators, intellectuals, and Jew-hatred in general.

Professional Liars

“I agree, we failed Israel’s safety,” says the right-wing minister. What a clear admission. Until you read the rest. “Of course, we must go back and judge what role the [failed] Oslo Accords played in this [blaming the left.]”

False Moral Equivalence

“I agree, it was monstrous what Chamas did. It’s forbidden in Islam to target civilians or even risk hurting civilians.” So, you think: A reasonable person, I’m listening. Then he continues: “But the IDF does the same.”

Proportionality and Occupation

She says: “The IDF response is not proportional.” What would be? “We have been suffering under the Israeli occupation for seventy-five years.”

You need some background knowledge to spot the nonsense here.

First, proportionality is not a measure of revenge. It’s a military term regarding ‘collateral damage.’ It is a relative measure to establish if the amount of damage to civilian stuff and people is in reasonable proportion compared to the military installations and fighters you’re after.

Second, seventy-five years ago was 1948, when the State of Israel was proclaimed. But Gaza belonged to Egypt until 1967, the Six-Day War, the united Arab attempt to kill all Jews in Israel. The last Israelis left Gaza at the Disengagement in 2005. Then, the Gaza Strip became independent. Yet, Gazans chose, in free elections, a bunch of Nazis to rule them (and, like the population of Nazi Germany, bear responsibility for what this regime did), which obligated Israel to isolate the Strip so that articles for genocide could be blocked. It didn’t help completely because iron and cement to build houses were used to build terror tunnels and rockets.

Is what the IDF does regarding Gaza reasonable? It certainly is. While the terror groups tried to hide safely among the 1.7 million civilians and under hospitals, the IDF is separating the two to go after the terrorists net.

This is always a problem for dismantling lies: You can put six lies in one sentence, while the truth about each lie might consist of six paragraphs.

Blaming the Victim

I summarize: “How did Israel fail here? Israel strengthened Chamas and the PA to divide them. Its policy exploded [sic] last week. The US wrecked the delicate balances [sic] in the Arab world. By defeating Saddam Hussein, it reinforced Iran. The US is a stabilizing force in the world [the opposite of the above] and must engage.” He always has Anti-Jewish dog whistles.

If she would have dressed more decently, would she have been assaulted? How did the Jews cause the Holocaust? Same kind of questions.

And this: “But didn’t Israel bring this upon itself?” Jews suffered genocide for millennia and never took revenge. Often, the ones hating Jews with a vengeance never met a Jew. Like all racism, evil needs no justification.

Playing Victim

How brutal that the IDF makes innocent Gazans lose their homes.

After WW II, Germans did not have the audacity to play victim. Japan did. The most brutal murderers of the century were suddenly forgotten via two atomic bombs (a clear war crime by the standards developed after WW II).

Wars Don’t Erupt

People declare, make war. This phraseology is employed a lot to hide the culprits. When Israel declared Statehood, war didn’t erupt. It was declared. Wars are started by parties for reasons, often with excuses and with goals.

Double Standards, Cutting off History

The UN did not proclaim Chamas out of order but is warning Israel and judging Israel’s response unfavorably.

A strong Anti-Zionism, anti-truth trick is to focus on the countermeasures that monstrous Israel takes for protection and leave out what prompted Israel to need such. Ask yourself, whenever Israel is accused, if it’s exaggerated, if it’s true at all, and if so, what forced Israel to act like that.

Chamas is the Problem

No, they’re just the soldiers, but the enemy here is Iran. Yes, Chamas’ inhumanity was a bloody eye-opener, but the real problem is the regime of Iran vis-à-vis Israel and Iran’s neighbors.

BTW: It is impossible to kill off all of Chamas because they are everywhere.

Uneven War and Morality

The IDF has a morality higher than International Law. Their actions aren’t conditional on whether the enemy is moral. However, if, while discussing or reporting on the Middle East, you hold one party (Israel) to morality and not the other, you are spreading falsehood and baseless hatred. BTW: War crimes by guerillas (not regular soldiers) are still war crimes. I believe that, in a letter to the editor of the Jerusalem Post, I was the first person who called shooting rockets from Gaza to target Israeli cities a war crime.

Warning Civilians

Israel has no obligation to warn civilians close to military targets. But as the only army in the world, it does that. It even found a way to separate terrorists from the civilian population by warning the latter if they were in harm’s way if they didn’t relocate. “War crime,” the Antisemites scream.

Siege

Putting a siege on an enemy army is a kinder thing to do than starting urban fighting when terrorists use civilians as human shields.

No army in the world has an obligation to feed an enemy army. It may allow aid to be distributed on condition it won’t go to the militants. But we know that Chamas would take it all and since it doesn’t care about the well-being, prosperity, or life of the population under their occupation.

Being kind to the wicked ends in being wicked to kind, the Talmud warns.

Lying by Timing

These methods are simple but effective and spread falsehood like wildfire.

Giving a ‘balanced’ report, but the headline, byline, and 90% of the rest of the item are from Palestinian sources, and a token soundbite from Israeli’s side is then added at the end of it, preferably with quotation marks. What’s worse is that all the Palestinian quotes are made up but get a pass.

Another trick is to publish something blatantly false. The sensation is then quickly carried by all the media. Later, you issue a retraction or correction, but the lies are circulated already, and outlets will leave it like that.

Big lettering accusing Israel, tiny letters saying it’s not clear if Israel did it:

And printing the words of terrorists above those of a democratic State.

When the IDF and the TOI come with proof of the truth after four hours, cyberspace is already saturated with the lie that we bombed a hospital.

Yet, proof doesn’t matter. Even if the bombing was a terrorist’s mistake, it’s all because of a correct effort to eradicate all Jews, so they are guilty.

False Reasonableness

“War is always terrible. Let’s get to a ceasefire.” You don’t say after a bank robbery to the pursuing police: Enough violence, already; let’s stop now.

October Seven was an Inside Job

“Israel could not have failed so much unless it wanted to.” Probably an offspring of “Jews are a malicious, all-powerful cabal that runs the world.”