Roll up to the Hall of Mirrors to see how lies about Israel become ‘facts’

All of us who pay close attention to the coverage of Israel-Palestine and see the mechanics behind the consistent traducing and libelling of Israel, are familiar with the phrase “echo chamber.” It is a useful metaphor which helps explain (to us at least) the distorting effect on reality caused when “facts” and “information” –  that is false facts, inaccurate information and those catchy slogans like “apartheid state” – ping back and forth. Through repetition, they acquire the appearance of “truth” when they are, in fact, merely echoes of the original fabrication, lie, libel or catchy slogan.

I would now like to suggest “Hall of Mirrors” as another aphorism that may help to explain the distorting effect on reality and perceptions when false facts, inaccurate information and those catchy slogans, are carefully curated and showcased in a way that gives the  original distortion (or outright lie) the appearance of “truth” even though it is actually the original lie, libel, fabrication or slogan being endlessly reflected back and forth from mirror to mirror.

As an aid to the understanding of what I’d like to dub “The Hall of Mirrors Effect” I am grateful to Google for its description of this fairground favourite:  “A confusing or disorienting situation in which it is difficult to distinguish between truth and illusion….”

I’m keen to bring “Hall of Mirrors Effect” into regular service after hearing  about an especially heinous example of its effect at online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia where “facts,” misinformation, lies and libels were curated to justify a change of title on an “information” page about the Israeli operation in Gaza from an already controversial  “Allegations of Genocide” to an explicit, inflammatory and wholly unfounded “Gaza Genocide.”

At Wikipedia, “the Hall of Mirrors Effect” appears to have worked like this: There was an assertion from Israel’s enemies claiming that Israel was “committing genocide.”  By curating “information,” statistics and quotes from various sources, Wikipedia “validated” this assertion thus “justifying” its explicit and inflammatory new headline.

So let’s just recap: Israel’s enemies repeatedly and vociferously claimed that Israel had “committed genocide.” In order to decide to consider “validating” this asserttion, Wikipedia needed sources to “confirm” (or possibly refute) the claim that Israel had “committed genocide.” So who would Wikipedia ask for “objective” “confirmation”  (or refutation) of that allegation?

Surely not the same outrageously biased sources that made the allegations in the first place Well, yes, it seems that many of these sources were considered sufficiently “reliable” for Wikipedia to decide to change an “allegation” to a “fact.”

So who did supply the “evidence”?  Almost certainly none came from the Anti-Defamation League because in June 2023 Wikipedia declared America’s mighty ADL to be “generally unreliable” on  Israel-Palestine. (and, more curiously, “generally unreliable” on antisemitism, too).

Instead, the “reliable” sources quoted by Wikipedia included Turkey’s State-run, avowedly anti-Israel news agency Anadolu and Jewish Voice for Peace – though perhaps the online source was unaware  that JVfP is seen by most mainstream Jews as  virulently anti-Zionist. And as its “reliable” source for casualty statistics on the ground in Gaza, it used Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health, though without any clear attribution even though this source has been shown to issue wildly inflated figures and has often failed to make a distinction between civilians and Hamas terrorists. But – more heinously, in my view – by using (and therefore appearing to accept) MOH figures Wikipedia allows itself to be used by terrorists to help conceal from those viewing the website, the fact that there is a civilian death-toll in Gaza as a direct consequences of Hamas embedding its terror infrastructure, rocket-launchers, tunnels and terrorists in the heart of residential areas. In appearing to give credibility to the MOH figures, Wikipedia also ignores the very real possibility that the death toll and destruction may even have been cynically engineered by terrorist leaders who would be aware of its impact thanks to media coverage.

At this point, we briefly leave the Hall of Mirrors, to take a ride on another fairground attraction, the “Israel Genocide Merry-Go-Round” where among those clambering aboard, we see a large contingent of “Middle East scholars” all of whom have given Wikipedia “statements” endorsing  the false allegations that are already whirling round, either because they themselves made them or because they were made by other equally “reliable” “experts.”

Others allegedly aboard this dizzying “Israel Genocide Merry-Go-Round” are Israeli officials who allegedly made “statements” that supposedly support the “claims” from the “reliable” “Middle East scholars” that Israel’s operation meets the “legal threshold” for “genocide.”  Wikipedia fails  to mention, however, that most of the Israeli officials quoted claim either that they have been misquoted or misrepresented, while some deny making the comments at all. The “Israel Genocide Merry-Go-Round” however, whirls on with a blizzard of  “comments” and “statements” from various politicians, lawyers, doctors, all eager to heighten the illusion of guilt by endorsing a fiction. The fact that many of those “confirming” and “attesting” to this fiction are vociferous opponents of Israel is conveniently ignored by Wikipedia, which treats all their comments as “evidence” rather than an opinion formed on the basis of lies, libels and prejudice.

Stepping back into the Hall of Mirrors we find Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories and  a key source “confirming” the allegation of “genocide ” and thus transforming an “allegation” into a “fact.”

I presume Wikipedia was impressed as to the “objectivity” and “reliability” of this source by that UN imprimatur. And presumably visitors to the website are expected to be impressed by it – at least those unaware that the UN has been subverted into an apologist for Palestinian terrorism and a mouthpiece for Iranian expansionism.

However, if Wikipedia had spent just a few minutes Googling Ms Albanese, they would have found that she appears to have an extensive history of opposition to Israel and its policies, that should have been a “red flag” with regard to her “objectivity” and “reliability.”

Shortly after the Oct 7 terrorist slaughter of 1,400 Israelis (including babies, infants, pensioners and 100s of young people attending a music festival) she allegedly questioned Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, and she has called for the UN to expel Israel as a member. In addition, a senior Israeli UN observer has described Ms Albanese as “the first UN special rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by France, Germany, and the USA.” Her allegations of “genocide” were described by a US State Department spokesperson as “unfounded” and the US has called for her removal from her post. In July, the UN began an investigation into allegations that she had accepted funding from pro-Hamas groups.

Yet her supposedly “objective” and “reliabile” allegations, together with all the other misinformation, libels and outright lies are collated onto a Wikpedia “information page” headed “Gaza Genocide.” Following that Wikpedia can (and doubtless will) be quoted as a “source” that is “confirming” that Israel “committed genocide.”

Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors…