The (Incomplete) List of Blatant Lies About Israel
The dissemination of libels about Israel often exacerbates tensions and hinders the quest for a nuanced understanding of Israel, Zionism, Israelis, what a “Jewish state” means, and the Middle East.
Please consider supporting our mission to help everyone better understand and become smarter about the Jewish world. A gift of any amount helps keep our platform free of advertising and accessible to all.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Share this essay using the link: https://www.futureofjewish.com/p/the-incomplete-list-of-blatant-lies-about-israel
Israel, a nation steeped in historical significance and contemporary geopolitical relevance, has long been a focal point for misinformation and propaganda.
The dissemination of falsehoods about Israel often exacerbates tensions and hinders the quest for a nuanced understanding of Israel, Zionism, Israelis, what a “Jewish state” means, and the Middle East.
Here are just some of the most persistent and damaging lies told about Israel:
1) Israel is an Apartheid state.
One of the most pervasive accusations is that Israel operates as an apartheid state akin to the former regime in South Africa. This comparison is not only factually incorrect but also grossly misleading.
Apartheid in South Africa was characterized by legally institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination. In contrast, Israel is a democratic state where all its citizens, including Arab Israelis, have equal rights under the law. Arab Israelis vote, serve in the Knesset (Israeli parliament), and hold various public offices.
While the situation in the Palestinian Territories is complex and fraught with challenges, the apartheid analogy oversimplifies and distorts the realities on the ground.
2) Israel is committing genocide.
Another grave falsehood is the claim that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Genocide, defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, or religious group, is not applicable to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinian population has been growing steadily, which contradicts the notion of genocidal intent. The conflict has seen casualties and suffering on both sides, primarily due to periodic escalations in violence, but these tragic events do not amount to genocide.
3) Israel is a colonialist entity.
Critics often label Israel as a colonial project, suggesting that it is an artificial state imposed by Western powers on the indigenous Arab population. This narrative ignores the historical and continuous Jewish presence in the region spanning thousands of years.
Moreover, it overlooks the diverse backgrounds of Israeli Jews, many of whom hail from Middle Eastern, North African, and Asian countries where they faced persecution and expulsion.
The creation of Israel was the result of a complex historical process involving international agreements, migration, and the quest for self-determination, rather than a simple colonialist imposition.
4) Myths About the Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are frequently depicted as a ruthless military machine indiscriminately targeting civilians. While the IDF, like any military, is not without its controversies and instances of misconduct, the characterization of it as deliberately targeting civilians is inaccurate.
The IDF follows strict rules of engagement designed to minimize civilian casualties, and Israel's legal and military systems provide mechanisms for accountability. The high standards set by the IDF contrast with the practices of terrorist organizations like Hamas, which often launch attacks from civilian areas, using their own people as human shields.
5) Israeli society is homogenous.
A less discussed but equally misleading notion is that Israeli society is monolithic and uniformly aligned in its views and policies. In reality, Israel is a diverse society comprising Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and others.
Political opinions within Israel vary widely, with robust debates on issues such as security, peace processes, and social justice. This internal diversity is a testament to Israel's democratic framework, which allows for a plurality of voices and perspectives.
6) Economic Exploitation and Resource Theft
Accusations that Israel systematically exploits Palestinian resources and economy are common. While the economic interactions between Israel and the Palestinian Territories are complex and fraught with issues, the narrative of outright exploitation simplifies the realities.
Efforts have been made in various forums to create economic cooperation and improve Palestinian livelihoods, although these are often disrupted by the broader conflict dynamics. Moreover, Israel has provided substantial humanitarian aid and infrastructure support to the Palestinian Territories.
7) There is not peace because of Israel.
The lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a result of a complex interplay of historical grievances, political realities, security concerns, and foreign influences. Both sides have contributed to the ongoing conflict, and both will need to make significant compromises and changes to achieve a lasting peace.
Blame can be seen as shared, with both Israeli and Palestinian actions and policies contributing to the current impasse. Different Israeli governments have varied in their approaches to the peace process. Right-wing governments have generally been less inclined to make concessions, while Left-wing governments have made more efforts towards peace negotiations.
However, even Left-leaning governments have struggled to achieve lasting peace because of Palestinian issues like governance, internal division, and the decades-long, pernicious use of terrorism against Israeli civilians, as we saw on October 7th.
And the fact remains: Israel has made peace with every Middle Eastern and North African country that has desired it, such as Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Morocco, and Bahrain.
8) Israeli settlements are one of the main problems.
The debate surrounding Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) is often portrayed as one of the central obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
However, the issue of settlements is overhyped and that other factors play a more critical role in the conflict. Settlements are not the primary barrier to peace and that focusing too heavily on them oversimplifies the complex dynamics at play.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict predates the establishment of settlements following the 1967 Six-Day War. The conflict’s roots lie in the broader historical and religious disputes that began in the 19th century.
Israel has previously demonstrated a willingness to dismantle settlements for the sake of peace. The only problem is: Israel has never received said peace from the Palestinians in return.
9) Zionism is racism.
Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in response to centuries of persecution, antisemitism, and the experience of statelessness among Jews. The movement was founded on the idea that Jews constitute a nation with a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
For many Jews, Zionism represents the aspiration for a safe and sovereign state where they can freely practice their culture and religion.
Israel, despite its challenges, is a democracy with a diverse population, including Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, who have equal rights and freedoms. Many of the criticisms against Israel, such that it is a racist entity, fail to account for the complexities of maintaining security and sovereignty in a volatile region.
10) Netanyahu is a dictator.
You can say a lot of things about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and I have, but he is not a dictator. He has always been democratically elected, even by narrow margins, but guess what? That is how democracy works sometimes.
If we want to champion democracy, we have to live with its outcomes, even when they trigger, annoy, or upset us.
11) ‘Settler Violence’
Settler violence occurs, and most Israelis do not condone it. But when viewed through the lens of 600,000 Israelis that live in Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank), there are a few hundred “violent settlers.”
If we took a tiny percentage of any population and judged the entire country by them, the whole world would be rotten.
12) The West Bank is occupied.
Israeli settlements are part of the West Bank, and the West bank is disputed territory. It is not occupied.
The Israelis living there are not an ongoing administrative presence or the government in the Palestinian West Bank, as evidenced by the fact that they do not make rules or draft laws, even though the Palestinians living there share their roads.
The Palestinians have their own police and their own government, they pay taxes to the Palestinian Authority, and the Israelis living there do not run the Palestinians’ day-to-day lives. That is not occupation.
The Israeli settlers live on portions of land that were seized from Jordan in a war that Israel did not start in 1967, and that Israel seized with the desperate hope that the Jordanians would take it back in exchange for peace. And Jordan said, “We don’t want it. We are not interested in the problem.” In the same way that the king of Jordan has now said, “We will not take a single refugee, not one. We don’t want this problem. You can have it.”
For whatever reason at that time, Israel did not make a decision to annex it and claim its territory and make it sovereign Israel (like it did with the Golan Heights in northern Israel), nor did it abdicate any responsibility. It maintained a presence, hence becoming a disputed territory.
Because that disputed territory includes Jewish residents, there is obviously a military presence to protect those citizens. And that somehow got translated into an occupation, which is not reflective of legal or international law, or of the reality on the ground.
13) Israel purposely kills women and children.
The claim that Israel intentionally targets and kills women and children is a serious and often politically charged accusation that lacks nuance and context. While civilian casualties, including women and children, tragically occur in military conflicts, these casualties are often a result of complex and densely populated environments where militant groups operate within civilian areas.
Israel aims to minimize civilian casualties and follows international laws of war, often taking measures such as issuing warnings before strikes. In fact, Israel invented the “knock on the roof” approach, in which the IDF drops a non-explosive or low-yield devices on the roofs of targeted civilian infrastructure as a prior warning of imminent bombing attacks to give the inhabitants time to flee.
14) A Disproportionate Focus on Israel
The media (and now social media) often focuses disproportionately on Israel when covering military conflicts, while other conflicts and crises around the world receive far less attention.
This disproportionate scrutiny can create a skewed perception of Israel as uniquely villainous. For example, the Syrian civil war, the plight of the Uyghurs in China, and the conflict in Yemen have resulted in far greater loss of life and human suffering, yet these issues frequently receive less media coverage.
15) Oversimplified Narratives
The media often presents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in black-and-white terms, casting Israel as the aggressor and Palestinians as the victims.
This oversimplification ignores the historical, political, and social complexities of the conflict. It fails to acknowledge the legitimate security concerns of Israelis, the internal divisions among Palestinians, and the role of foreign actors, such as Iran and Qatar.
The spread of misinformation about Israel is a significant barrier to achieving peace and mutual understanding in the Middle East. By critically examining and debunking these pervasive lies, we can foster a more informed and balanced discussion about the region.
If, heaven forbid, Israel was demolished by these heartless terrorists, how long would the sympathy last? After all, on October 7, dancing was seen on the streets of many major cities in the world. But when Israel began to fight back, instead of encouragement to rid the area of terrorists, it is condemned. In other words, many except Israel and Jews to hang their heads and walk into the gas chambers. Do people not realize the charters of Hamas, Hezbollah, PA, want to destruction of Israel, and eventually the elimination of all Jews on the face of the earth. Just think of what my people have given the world, and think how empty our lives would be without what we have done, not just for ourselves, but for humanity. I want to see this information on and in all forms of mainstream media!
You're bending over backwards to be even handed. Your opponents will not provide you the same courtesy. While I understand and applaud your effort to be objective, it will be used against Jews.
There is the issue of proportionality. For example, a "settler" ( the term is misleading) commits an act of isolated violence against a small group of people. This is made equivalent to a mass terrorist attack. It's not the case. We should condemn violence against any innocent bystander or civilian. We should condemn unprovoked violence of any kind. But what we don't need to do is wear a hair shirt and apologize for any and all questionable activities by Jews in the face of overwhelming violence, prejudice and hatred.
Benjamin Netanyahu is a hero. You don't have to like him. You may disagree with him on politics, but again, criticizing Netanyahu because one may be on the Left when the anti-Semites want to eviscerate Israel is a mistake IMHO. Netanyahu is a nationalist. The media adopts a point of view incompatible with Israeli nationalism. Jews need to abandon the Left. The Left is the cause of most of the problems that Israel and Jews worldwide have today. They have sold out Israel and the Jews. We need to stand united. Not in defense of anything immoral, but in the defense of the right to a peaceful existence, like any human would aspire to. The Marxists, who are allied with the Islamofascists, would deny us that right. Keep up the good work. I'm telling you these things to encourage you, not to silence you.