At first glance, we all seem familiar with the story of the boy who cried "Wolf, wolf!" In the original tale, after several false alarms, those who heard the cry ceased to assist the boy who repeatedly deceived them. But what if I told you that no matter how often the boy falsely alarmed them, there were always those who hurried to help only to discover the boy had lied again, even on the hundredth time? The thousandth? What would you say about those who are so easy to manipulate? Are they foolish? If not, then what's the point?
Anyone following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict witnesses a similar phenomenon. Palestinians disseminate some falsehoods, for instance, that Israel harvests organs from Palestinians, or that Israel has been committing genocide since 1948 and even turned the Gaza Strip into "the world's largest open-air prison" among other baseless arguments.
Those who have deeply investigated these claims found the organ harvesting story published in a Swedish newspaper to be a paraphrase of medieval antisemitic blood libels that never existed. Regarding the alleged "genocide" by Israel against Palestinians, it's a rather unsuccessful genocide considering the Palestinian population in Israeli territories has only grown since 1948, and Israel cannot turn Gaza into a prison since it shares a border with Egypt.
One of the Palestinians' most effective weapons against Israel is the weapon of disinformation they create. The lies spread by Palestinians and their supporters stir public opinion against the State of Israel and apply constant international pressure that prevents it from effectively acting against the terrorism directed at it.
These accusations against Israel are proven time and again to be false. The missile that supposedly Israel fired at the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital and was immediately reported by the BBC as causing 500 deaths turned out to be fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Images of famine supposedly sweeping a city come mainly from Syria, and even the latest plot quoted by the UN, alleging Israeli soldiers committed rape against Palestinian women in Shifa hospital, was denied by the Palestinians themselves.
This is exactly the case with the malicious claim that Israel deliberately, not accidentally, killed international aid workers, even though Israeli hostages and even about a fifth of IDF casualties were killed accidentally due to Israeli fire, a common occurrence in combat zones, certainly in densely populated combat areas like the Gaza Strip.
The dissemination of lies or "fake news" by the Palestinians is, as mentioned, systematic. The Wikipedia entry "Pallywood" dedicated to the Palestinian industry of falsehoods includes a long-documented list of the "dead rising," staged scenes, and productions that undoubtedly should have earned their creators an Oscar.
Every rational person must ask themselves: Hamas did not embark on a raid or a limited war. Its explicit instructions to its fighters were to murder, mutilate bodies, rape women, and burn babies. All these were aimed at one goal: declaring a war from which there is no return in the most barbaric way possible, forcing Israel to respond with full force.
This seems utterly irrational, a terror organization that controls an area where civilians have no protection, forces a regional military power to strike it in fury. It has no artillery, no air force, and no way to contend with the Israeli navy. So, what exactly is Hamas's war plan based on?
5 View gallery
Once an environmental activist, today she yells 'Free Palestine'
(Photo: Isabel Infantes, Reuters)
Well, it is based on you. On the global public opinion. Hamas took the bias against the Jewish state and the Western moral distortion flooded with horrifying images of the "genocide" taking place in Gaza. These images were cynically created with the intention as part of Hamas's war plan. Together with a fake news campaign and anti-Israel (and now we can also admit antisemitic) protests, they pressure Western leaders to bind Israel and grant them victory on the way to the destruction of the Jewish state.
Hamas knows that despite such lies being exposed time and again, so many in the world, not just individuals but also seemingly reputable media outlets, rush to adopt them without any doubt or a minimum of critical scrutiny. Why?
Every swindler knows that the most effective deception is one the victim wants to believe in. They yearn to believe that quick profits can be made, thus their defense of skepticism and doubt weakens. This is precisely how those "simpletons" who rush to angrily lynch the Jewish state after the publication of any plot, no matter how illogical, behave. They are eager to buy into this narrative.
Assaf A. VollPhoto: Anat LevinskyNow the question arises, why are there those who are eager to adopt Hamas's propaganda? Do they really aspire to be the artillery, air force, and navy fighting on behalf of a barbaric terror organization? Why do they surge forth with such urgency and fervent wrath to aid a vile terrorist organization, even as it cries "wolf wolf!" for the millionth time?
Assaf A. Voll is a member of Israel's Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) organization