The War of Words

Words That Wound: How Israel’s Own Language Undermines Her Truth

Words matter. They shape perception, craft narratives, and influence how nations are seen by the world and by themselves. Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, is paying a devastating price for the careless and self-defeating language used even within its own borders. What foreign propaganda began decades ago, parts of Israel’s own media and institutions have tragically continued often without realizing the damage being done.

It is flabbergasting that Israeli journalists, officials, and broadcasters use terms that were never born out of truth but out of political warfare. Terms like “West Bank,” “Palestinians,” and “settlers” have become so common that many forget their origins—and how they erase Israel’s history and legitimacy.

Let’s start with “West Bank.”
The name itself is a modern political invention. Before 1948, no one in history ever referred to Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland of the Jewish people, as the “West Bank.” That term was created by the Jordanians after they illegally occupied the territory during Israel’s War of Independence. It literally refers to the west bank of the Jordan River. But the intent was far deeper: to strip the land of its Jewish identity.

In ancient times, Emperor Hadrian did something eerily similar. After crushing the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, he renamed Judea to “Palestina” in a deliberate attempt to erase Jewish history and sever the people from their homeland. The Romans hoped that by changing the name, they could erase the connection between the Jews and their ancestral land. Sound familiar? The Jordanians’ invention of “West Bank” followed the exact same playbook: erase the Jewish past to delegitimize the Jewish present.

So why, in the name of truth, does Israel,a proud, Jewish, sovereign state, continue to use this false terminology? Why would Israelis willingly repeat the vocabulary of their enemies, words designed to delegitimize their very existence?

The same problem appears with the term “Palestinians.”
Before 1948, the word “Palestinian” referred to Jews living in the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palestine Post was a Jewish newspaper; Palestinian Orchestra meant Jewish musicians. Only after the creation of the State of Israel did the Arab world begin using the term “Palestinian” as a political identity to counter Jewish indigeneity. In truth, they are Arabs part of the larger Arab world that spans over 20 nations. The claim of a historic, sovereign “Palestinian people” or “Palestinian state” is simply a modern invention, a narrative constructed to undermine Israel’s right to exist.

And then there’s the term “settlers.”
No one calls Arab towns in the same region “settlements.” Arab communities are referred to as “villages” or “towns,” while Jewish communities, built legally on ancestral Jewish land, are stigmatized as “settlements.” This double standard doesn’t just distort the language; it feeds the world’s false accusation of apartheid. Ironically, the apartheid is linguistic, used by Israeli media itself against its own people.

How can Israel expect the world to recognize her truth if her own institutions echo the propaganda of those who seek her destruction? Every time an Israeli anchor says “West Bank” instead of Judea and Samaria, or refers to a Jewish family as “settlers” instead of “residents,” they reinforce the lie that Jews are foreigners in their own land. Every time “Palestinians” are presented as an ancient nation, they give credence to one of history’s greatest fabrications.

It is heartbreaking. Israel’s enemies don’t have to erase Jewish history, Israel is doing it for them, word by word, headline by headline.

It’s time for change.
It’s time for Israeli media, politicians, educators, and citizens to reclaim the truth in their language. Say Judea and Samaria, not West Bank. Say Jewish communities, not settlements. Say Arabs from Judea and Samaria, not Palestinians. Words can build nations or destroy them.

If Israel wants the world to believe her truth, she must first speak it herself.

*Time To Stand Up For Israel is fighting  disinformation