AP Photo/Fatima Shbair
RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY | PJ Media
(This column is Part 1 of a series of articles explaining the fallacies that have led to the world’s leftists supporting Palestine, Gaza, and Hamas’ horrors.)
The patterns of the anti-Semitic/Marxist/”Palestinian”/LGBTQ/BLM/hate-filled alliance are nothing if not predictable. After expressing shock and dismay that their Palestinian friends in Gaza specifically targeted civilians, in under a week, they have quickly shifted back to their repeated old rhetoric. They are now blaming Israel for the horrific attacks from Hamas, calling Israel’s counter-attacks on Hamas a “terrorist siege,” blitzing the media with images of wounded from Gaza, and attacking Israel in all ways as an ‘apartheid state’ and, as Ocasio Cortez defined Israel, a nation devoted to “ethnic cleansing”.
We cannot let them try to control the narrative with their blatant lies.
The best way to dismiss falsities is to educate. And so the purpose of this piece is to do just that: to give accurate information that is in direct contradiction to the lies of the Marxist alliance that seeks to destroy Israel, the United States, and Western Culture. The spiritual implications and religious components will be left for another article. This is about what we in Judaism call tachlis: simple, practical understandings that are useable in any dialogue.
Let us start with a brief history lesson. Despite what the media has been preaching for almost 60 years, there is no historical Palestinian state or people. Over 4,000 years ago, there were small tribes living in Canaan, such as Moabites, Amalekites, etc. There was no Palestine of people or land. Then around 3,200 years ago, the 12 tribes of Israel, united under King Saul into the first kingdom in the region, a Jewish theocracy called “Israel.” That split into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel (both Jewish), which were conquered by the Babylonian empire a little over 2,500 years ago. This became the Persian Empire, which was defeated by Alexander the Great, and Israel was controlled by the Greeks.
The Greeks were defeated by the Hasmoneans, and Israel once again became a Jewish state about 2,200 years ago. The Hasmoneans were beaten by the Romans, and there followed a series of kingdoms that controlled Israel: Byzantine, Sassanid, Ummayad, Frankish, Christian, and eventually the Mamluk Dynasty, which controlled the region in the 13th-16th centuries. This is the first time there is a governmental Muslim presence in Israel, but again, it is not related to Palestine as a people or nation at all. The Mamluks ultimately were absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, which controlled the region until it was defeated by the British in the 20th century. Nowhere in this 3,000-year history does Palestine or Palestinians exist or even get discussed. The British created a mandate called “Palestine” on July 24, 1922, which was the first mention of the word in thousands of years.
For over 3,000 years, there has been no such thing as a Palestinian or a country of Palestine! So how did this Palestinian issue even start in modern times? In 1948, U.N. Resolution 181 granted statehood to two states: a Jewish one called Israel and an Arab one called Palestine. This is the first time there is a nation or people with the name of Palestine, even though they were in fact all Jordanians. Immediately, five Arab nations attacked Israel, which continued to be attacked repeatedly for the next 15 years but successfully defended her nationhood.
And now comes the seed that leads to the current support from the left of “Palestine.” In the early 1960s, the Arab coalition was not only physically losing wars, but was considered bullies of Israel in worldwide media. They were the Goliath that kept losing to David. So they hired the public relations firm of Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy in New York (founded in 1909, no longer in business) to change their image in the world. George Anderson told them they needed a “victim,” a group that would be perceived as smaller and even more abused than the Israelis, and the Palestinian cause was born.
At Anderson’s advice, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was established on May 28, 1964. This is the start date of the “Palestinian cause”: 1964. After the 1967 war, when Israel kept Gaza, the Sinai, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank, the concept of the Palestinians as victims became more popular. While ultimately Egypt made a land-for-peace deal with Israel and has kept that peace, the other nations refused to do the same. “Palestine” has always, and continues today, to define itself as “from the River” (Jordan) to the Sea (Mediterranean) and refuses to accept the State of Israel as a neighbor. The Arab schoolbooks in Gaza, the West Bank, and many Arab nations do not even include Israel in their maps as taught to children in 2023.
As for Gaza? In 2005, the Israelis, in their eternal quest for peace, gave self-governance to the people of Gaza. In 2007, the people of Gaza elected Hamas as their leadership by over 90%, and they have reelected and kept Hamas in power for these 16 years. Please do not cry for a distinction between the citizens of Gaza and Hamas, for Hamas was and has been elected by the people of Gaza for almost two decades.
“But,” says the leftist that wants to destroy Israel, “the people of the region consider themselves Palestinian, and we need to act according to their self-identification based on the last few decades.” So when confronted by the history that “Palestine” and “Palestinians” are made up, the response is that self-identification is the real determiner. This is beyond absurd, as we can see with a simple analogy.
We are currently being confronted with a media, supported by the same Marxist agenda, that claims that if a man self-identifies as a woman, he should be treated as a woman in all ways. Anyone with common sense realizes this is ridiculous. But as this agenda continues unchecked, more and more people are concerned about this craziness that is becoming commonly accepted.
A pig can call itself a chicken all day, but it is still a pig. Drag queens can call themselves women, but they are not. And an Arab born in Gaza is an Israeli or Gazan but not a Palestinian, no matter what the media has been pouring down our throats for decades. It is cultural suicide to allow self-identification to control the actions of the culture: be it drag queens calling themselves women or accepting “Palestine” as a historical reality.
This does not disqualify the idea of a two-state solution of a Jewish state living peacefully with Arab neighbors. But this cannot happen until this proposed neighbor entirely rejects and turns on Hamas and until they change their attitude that Israel has no right to exist and embrace Israel as a peaceful neighbor.
There is a story that the Israeli ambassador was about to give a speech to the U.N. He said, “Before I begin my speech, I’d like to tell a story. Moses was bathing in the Jordan River, and when he got out, his clothes had been stolen by a Palestinian.”
The Palestinian ambassador jumped up. “Outrageous!” he exclaimed. “We were not even in the region at that time!”
The Israeli ambassador continued, “Now that it has been clearly established that the Palestinians were not even there historically, I will now begin my speech.”
Before we can start a process of peace, some realities need to be acknowledged: there is no historical Palestine, the people of Gaza have chosen Hamas as their leadership, and Israel has the right to exist and defend herself. From the full acceptance of those facts, a dialogue could possibly be started — but not until they are all fully accepted.
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