Everything the media taught you about Israel is wrong.

By Someone Who Checked the Footnotes

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If you’ve ever followed international news, you might think Israel is a malevolent superpower — a cross between Darth Vader and a Bond villain — bent on tormenting its neighbors while controlling global media from a shadowy hummus-scented bunker.

This, of course, would be impressive for a country the size of New Jersey with fewer people than New York City. But it’s also, quite simply, wrong.

The problem isn’t just misinformation. It’s also misformation — the slow, steady construction of an alternate reality, in which Israel is always the aggressor, never the victim, and perpetually on the verge of committing unspeakable crimes, usually while being condemned by someone sipping espresso in Brussels.

Let’s unpack this narrative, layer by layer.

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The David Who Was Always a David

In the beginning, there were Jews — scattered, exiled, and largely unwanted. After the Holocaust (which, it bears repeating, killed one-third of world Jewry), the surviving remnant dared to ask for a small slice of their ancient homeland. The United Nations agreed. The Jews accepted. The Arabs rejected — and declared war.

This is not a subjective interpretation. This is what happened in 1947 and 1948. Israel was born not in conquest, but in compromise — one that its neighbors refused. Five Arab armies invaded a day after Israel declared independence. The goal wasn’t to “resist occupation”; it was to prevent a Jewish state from existing. Period.

Israel won. Barely. The lesson? The media’s romanticization of the Palestinians as the sole underdog conveniently forgets that Israel has always been the underdog — outnumbered, outgunned, and besieged — even while being accused of being the regional Goliath.

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Occupation, Schmoccupation

Let’s talk about that other magic word: occupation. You’ve heard it on the news, scrawled on campus protest signs, shouted in rhythmic slogans: “End the occupation!” But few stop to ask what that means.

In 1967, after three Arab countries massed troops on its borders and explicitly threatened genocide (again), Israel launched a pre-emptive strike and won what’s known as the Six-Day War. As a result, it took control of the West Bank and Gaza — not from a Palestinian state (because there was none), but from Jordan and Egypt, respectively.

Here’s the kicker: if the Arab states hadn’t tried to destroy Israel in 1967, there would be no “occupation” to speak of. It’s like trying to rob someone’s house and then suing them because they punched you in the face. Yet the media coverage rarely includes this small detail.

Also omitted is the fact that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 — completely. Not a single soldier. Not a single settler. It even dug up graves to remove its dead. And what happened? Gaza became a launching pad for rockets, an Iranian proxy, and the setting of a real-life horror movie on October 7, 2023 — an event many journalists covered with all the urgency of a cat stuck in a tree.

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The Only Democracy in the Middle East™

Yes, it’s a cliché. But clichés become clichés for a reason. Israel is a democracy — flawed, boisterous, loud, and allergic to consensus — but a democracy nonetheless. Israeli Arabs serve in parliament, become Supreme Court justices, and cheer for the other team at soccer games.

The irony?

The one country constantly accused of apartheid is the only one where minorities vote, protest, and sue the government — often successfully.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority hasn’t held an election since 2006. Hamas, in Gaza, banned political opposition, executed critics, and forced children to train as soldiers. But when you read The New York Times, you’d think Hamas is a ragtag group of freedom fighters operating out of a cozy socialist co-op.

In truth, the media’s commitment to “balance” often creates absurd moral equivalencies. Imagine reporting on World War II by writing, “Today, Allied planes bombed German positions after Nazi forces launched a minor blitzkrieg.” That’s essentially how major outlets describe Israeli responses to Hamas terror.

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The Media’s Favorite Country to Misunderstand

If Israel had a dollar for every time it was misrepresented in global media, it could afford to hire a better PR team. Or at least a therapist.

One of the most egregious patterns is the “Boomerang Headline”: Militant rocket hits Israeli school; Israel retaliates; dozens dead in Gaza. As if the story begins with Israel responding to an attack — not with the attack itself. The lead is always buried somewhere between the recipe section and the obituaries.

And then there’s the famous photo bias: Palestinian children behind barbed wire, Israeli soldiers with guns. Never mind that the wire is often part of a security fence to stop suicide bombers, and the soldiers are there because — surprise! — they’re being shot at.

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The Moral Olympics: Where Israel Always Loses

Only in Israel are moral expectations cranked to superhuman levels. When the U.S. went after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, there were civilian casualties. Tragic, but understood.

When NATO bombed Belgrade in the 1990s, civilians died. Again — regrettable, but part of war. When Israel fires back at rocket launchers placed next to schools and hospitals? Suddenly it’s a war crime.

Let’s be clear: Israel uses missiles to protect its civilians. Hamas uses civilians to protect its missiles. But the media often flips the moral compass upside down, resulting in what historian Richard Landes called “moral inversion”: where the open society is condemned and the terrorist regime is romanticized.

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Dead Jews are easier to love.

Perhaps the darkest media bias is this: Jews are easiest to empathize with when they’re dying quietly. In Auschwitz, they earned solemn retrospectives and violin music. In Israel, defending themselves, they’re portrayed as imperialist warmongers.

This is not new. In 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 declaring Zionism — the belief that Jews deserve a homeland — to be a form of racism. (Spoiler: it’s not.) The same UN has condemned Israel more times than all other countries combined. More than North Korea. More than Iran. More than the Taliban. One might begin to suspect that anti-Zionism is often just anti-Semitism with a better publicist.

And yet — miraculously, defiantly — Israel thrives. It sends aid to earthquake victims in Haiti, invents life-saving technology, grows tomatoes in the desert, and hosts Pride parades in Tel Aviv. Not exactly the behavior of a genocidal ethnostate.

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What the Media Doesn’t Cover — And Why That Matters

The biggest falsehood isn’t what’s said. It’s what’s left out. Like the fact that Israel has flown critically ill Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals. Or that it developed and exported solar tech and desalination systems used across Africa. Or that when there’s a tsunami, earthquake, or hurricane anywhere on Earth, one of the first aid teams to show up is from the IDF.

Or how about the million Jewish refugees who fled (or were expelled) from Arab countries between 1948 and 1972? Where are their UN resolutions? Their news specials? Their protest movements on college campuses?

Silence. Always silence.

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The Real Story That Doesn’t Get Told

Here’s what the media rarely tells you: Israel is complicated, but not evil. It’s diverse, passionate, and perpetually introspective. Its own press is often its harshest critic. Its people argue in cafés, courtrooms, and on street corners — often in the same breath.

It’s a country of immigrants, dreamers, engineers, and poets who live under the shadow of existential threats and still manage to produce Oscar-nominated films and really good falafel.

If the media taught you to see Israel as a villain, maybe it’s time to change the channel. Or better yet — go see it for yourself. Talk to Israelis. Visit Jerusalem. Hike the Galilee. Get yelled at by a cab driver.

You might discover that the truth is less binary than the headlines lead you to believe, but far more interesting.

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