Taking a Wider View of the Middle East Crisis
Israel seems to be winning the wars against its enemies—Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. At the same time, it may be losing the propaganda wars. At least, that’s my impression from following the news and from talking with friends, neighbors, and relatives.
Without getting into the merits of the claims and counter-claims on each side of the propaganda wars, I would like to draw attention to one potentially dangerous outcome of the struggle to win the moral high ground—namely, that Islam will be perceived as the innocent party.
One Ring to Bind Them
I say “Islam” instead of “Hamas,” because Islam is the common denominator which binds together Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, not to mention Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan and the whole Muslim world. Because of their aggressive ideology, all of these countries have “bloody borders.” In recent years they have all fought against neighboring countries or winked at attacks on non-Muslims within their own borders. Christians are among the most frequent targets of these jihads.
Christian churches have been bombed or burned (often with the congregation inside) in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Egypt, the Philippines, Burkina Faso, the Congo, France and Germany. In Nigeria alone, Muslims have destroyed or torched 20,000 churches and Christian schools since 2009. In the Congo, just a few months ago, 70 Christians were bound inside their church and then beheaded by Islamic jihadists.
Yet, while the world hears daily about Israeli atrocities, it hears about only a fraction of Islamic outrages. It’s not just the secular media that under-reports Islamic terrorism; Christian media also under-reports. Moreover, when Christian media outlets do cover Islamic jihad attacks, they take great pains to avoid mentioning who is doing the attacking. Rather, they talk about “conflicts,” and “clashes” when they should be talking about heavily-armed jihadist groups slaughtering unarmed Christian villagers.
One-sided Reporting
The media, including Christian media, is happy to tell you all about the alleged crimes of Israel, but is highly reluctant to inform you that roughly 85 percent of world terrorism is committed in the name of Allah.
This lopsided presentation of the news inevitably leads to a distorted view of events. We hear that Israel intends genocide by means of bombing and starvation. We hear that Israelis live on stolen land and that their Zionist-inspired leaders plan to gobble-up even more land. We hear that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been indicted by the supposedly impartial International Criminal Court. We hear that Israel will employ the “Samson Option” and drag us all into World War III.
And what do we hear about the Gazans and Palestinians? Well, mainly that they are victims of Israel’s evil intent. And for proof, the media supplies us with photos of wounded children in hospital beds, and hungry-looking children lined up at food distribution centers.
But we don’t hear much anymore about the bloody massacre of Oct. 7, 2023 which ignited the current conflict. The media chooses not to remind us of the rapes, the torture, the murder of parents in front of their children and of children murdered in front of their parents.
Campfires
Some Americans assume that these “atrocity stories” were nothing more than Israeli propaganda when, in fact, they were real atrocities –the result of an intensive propagandizing of Palestinian children. Few Americans know that Palestinian children are indoctrinated from kindergarten on up to hate Jews. This occurs both in classrooms and on kids TV. In addition, Palestine is dotted with summer camps for children and teens where they are subject to more indoctrination and given training in military skills. The Palestinian Authority (PA) camps are attended by approximately 65,000 youngsters each summer.
Not to be outdone, Hamas operates camps for “hundreds of thousands” of Gazan children, teens, and young people. The camps glorify terror and terrorists and offer extensive military activities which include training with knives and firearms (in some cases with live ammunition), hand-to-hand combat and tunnel combat.
According to one Hamas website, the objective of the camps is “to fan the flame of jihad.” A large poster at one camp proclaims “Our strength is in jihad; our strength is in fighting and martyrdom; surrender is the road to humiliation.”
We don’t hear much about these activities because they undercut the notion that Palestinians and Gazans are merely innocent victims of Israeli oppression.
Pay-to-Slay
Another practice which gives the lie to the “innocent victims” narrative is the PA’s “Pay-to-slay” program—a policy that awards generous stipends to the families of “martyrs” who have killed Jews. As long as the victim is a Jew, it doesn’t matter if he or she is an Israeli soldier or a three-year-old child. In either case, the family gets the stipend. In addition, the “martyr” is honored in many ways: parks, streets, squares, schools, and other public buildings are often renamed in honor of the jihadist.
Naturally, the “pay-to-slay” program creates an incentive to kill Jews. Indeed, many Palestinian families raise their sons to be martyrs—both for the honor it brings the family, and for the money. But the odds are you’ve never heard of “Pay-to-slay.” That’s because it doesn’t fit into the accepted narrative.
As I noted above, the real danger of the one-sided media narrative is that it distracts us from the threat posed by Islam—not only to Jews but to all non-Muslims.
While it’s claimed that Jews hope to create a “Greater Israel” by expanding into neighboring countries, Islam is far more ambitious. According to Islamic scripture, Allah has commanded Muslims to subjugate the whole world under the rule of Islam. This can be accomplished either through violent jihad (as in most of Africa) or stealth jihad (as in the West).
Western Naivete
The reason that stealth jihad works so well in the West is that Westerners are extraordinarily naïve about Islam. Many if not most, think of Islam as a fellow faith that shares the same values that we do. They think of “Islamophobia” as a far greater threat to society than Islam itself.
According to various polls, the age group that is most likely to support the Palestinian cause is between 18-30. And when the polling is limited to college students, the majority identify as pro-Palestine. That’s understandable, of course. The vast majority of college professors are liberals or leftists. So, when it comes to the subject of Israel, American students might just as well be attending a Gazan summer camp.
On top of the indoctrination, most college students suffer from a knowledge gap. They know very little about what happened before they were born, and many don’t seem interested in finding out. By and large, they lack the historical context that would help them to sort out the truth about current events.
For example, a 50-state survey of millennials and Generation Z showed a shocking lack of knowledge about the Holocaust. Almost half of millennials cannot name a single concentration camp from the 40,000 that existed during the Holocaust. In addition, 22 percent of respondents thought the Holocaust occurred in World War I, and 63 percent did not know that six million Jews were murdered. Amazingly, 11 percent of those polled believed Jews caused the Holocaust and, disturbingly, 19 percent of New York millennials believed the same.
But if young people in the U.S. have only a hazy knowledge of the Holocaust, they know next to nothing about Islamic history and ideology. I once administered a multiple-choice test about Islam to a group of 60 Catholic post-grad evangelists who were well-versed in Catholic theology but were unable to answer the most basic questions about Islam. For example, the majority thought that the word “Islam” means “peace,” and were surprised to learn that it means “submission.”
A glaring example of this ignorance was provided at the nationwide student rallies protesting Israel’s war against Hamas. All across the country, students could be seen protesting Israel’s “genocidal” intentions by chanting “From the River to the Sea”—a genocidal chant which, unknown to most of the protestors, calls for the extermination of Israel.
Useful Idiots?
It’s tempting to apply the term “useful idiots” to these young protestors. The term is used to describe people who are easily recruited to a cause without fully comprehending what the cause entails. During the Cold War, Soviet propagandists worked diligently to manipulate young minds in a pro-communist direction—particularly by playing to their humanitarian concerns and emotional reactions.
But the term “useful idiot” is misleading on two counts. In the first place, it suggests that it’s foolish to be moved by emotions; but of course, it’s not. We would rightly wonder about a person who isn’t moved on seeing photos of dying children in bombed-out neighborhoods. In the second place, the term “useful idiots” implies that people who let themselves be manipulated are not very smart. Yet, the 18-year-olds, who get admitted to Harvard, Yale, and Columbia most probably score high on IQ tests. And so, we can assume, do their misguided professors.
There are other factors besides intelligence which enter into the choice to be pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. The issue is a hotly debated one which has divided both friends and family members across the U.S. Under such circumstances it’s not unusual for intelligent people to fall back on various forms of simplistic thinking. Thus, many people now view the crisis in Israel through a black/white, either/or perspective.
Oppressor or Oppressed?
From this perspective, one is either an oppressor or oppressed, victim or victimizer, good or evil. There is no room for admitting that the side you favor is ever at fault. But in reality, it’s often difficult to determine what actually happened or who is telling the truth, or whether the death of civilians was intentional or not, or whether the photo of the hungry child is authentic or staged. In any event, it would be a rare war in which one side was faultless.
So how does one sort things out? I think a good rule of thumb is: When the facts are in doubt, keep your eye on the ideology.
Targeting Catholics?
Recently, we saw an example of conflicting accounts. The only Catholic Church in Gaza was hit by an Israeli shell (possibly from a tank) leaving three dead and many wounded. The IDF says the attack was a mistake and the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed “deep sorrow” over the loss of life. However, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem issued a statement condemning “this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place.”
Was Israel “targeting” the church? That seems inconsistent both with Jewish moral values and with Jewish history. How many Catholic churches has Israel targeted in the past? What possible benefit would such an action bring to Israel?
On the other hand, the bombing of Catholic and other Christian churches is something that Islamic jihadists do on a regular basis in Africa and other parts of the world. Such behavior is justified by the many denunciations of Christians in the Quran. For example, Christians (along with Jews) are described as “the worst of creatures.” And Muslims are told not to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Islamic ideology and theology suggest that Christian church-goers are in far more danger of being killed by Muslims than by Jews, yet one hears very little about the genocide against Christians in Africa or the frequent jihad attacks against Christian churches in Europe.
To take another example of ideologically-based thinking, consider the attack of October 7, 2023 against Jewish festival goers. Twelve hundred were murdered, 3,400 wounded, and 251 taken captives. Along with Hamas militia, many Gaza citizens joined in the massacre.
Despite the fact that there is extensive video evidence of the slaughter, and despite the fact that Hamas took full responsibility for the attack, numerous attempts were made afterward to deny that Hamas was responsible. Claims were made that the attacks were staged by the IDF, that the IDF had killed hundreds of its own people, and so forth. At the time, polls showed that 35 % of Americans aged 18-29 felt that Hamas had valid reasons for fighting Israel.
Keep Your Eye on the Ideology
Once again, the “keep your eye on the ideology” test is helpful in assessing responsibility. One could argue that the massacre was an aberration—a one-time reaction, say, to years of Israeli oppression. Yet, when one takes a wider view, it’s difficult to see the Hamas attack as an aberration. Rather, it seems consistent with what their ideological cousins are doing in dozens of countries all over the world.
I’ve already mentioned the persecution of Christians by Muslims in Africa and other far-away places. Inspired by their jihad ideology, Muslims kidnap, rape, and kill Christians on a mass scale. In the last two years, twelve million black Africans in Sudan have been displaced and 150,000 killed by well-armed Arab Muslims. In Mauritania, the Arab-Berber ruling class enslaves tens of thousands of black Africans.
It might seem that this sort of thing can’t happen in the West, but it does. For example, over the last two decades, Pakistani “grooming gangs” have abducted, raped, and prostituted tens of thousands of English school girls in towns and cities across the English Midlands (with 2,400 victims in the small cities of Rotherham and Telford alone).
The Palestinians and the Gazans read the same Quran that Pakistanis do and their faith is every bit as fundamentalist. The cult of the martyr is, perhaps, more deeply embedded in Gaza than in any other Muslim culture. And, as far as I know, the Palestinians are the only people with a pay-to-slay program.
Consider the source
But the fact that other Muslims in other countries keep attacking non-Muslims doesn’t prove that Hamas is the party most at fault in the Israeli-Hamas war. Maybe things are different in Gaza/Palestine. After all, most of what I read on the subject (including many Catholic sites) favors the Hamas/Gaza side of the narrative. I read articles every day claiming that Israel is deliberately starving thousands and intentionally committing genocide. If that’s true—if Israel has a deliberate policy of starving and killing innocent people—then Israel should be condemned.
But consider the source of these reports. The majority of the data on casualties in Gaza comes from the Gaza Health Ministry which is run by Hamas, and Hamas has a vested interest in exaggerating the numbers. The more deaths and injuries they can show, the more easily they can manipulate public opinion.
Another source of reports are various UN agencies. Most people think of the UN as a neutral organization and in some respects it is, but for many years now the UN has shown a strong anti-Israel bias. Why is that? Perhaps because the largest voting bloc in the UN is the 57-state Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—which makes the UN reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict somewhat suspect.
The lopsided media treatment is particularly apparent in reports on the killing of Gazans at aid distribution sites. For example, one widely-read Catholic site informs us that “Since the GHF began its operation in the strip, the ministry reports the Israeli army has killed 1,026 Palestinians seeking aid distribution and wounded 6,563.”
Whew! 7,589 casualties in a matter of months! Why would people keep lining-up day after day if the toll is so high? Is this credible? Again, look at the source. The article relies for its information on the “ministry reports”—the ministry being the hardly impartial Hama-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The particular aid distribution sites which have become so dangerous are those run by the US-backed Israeli aid system staffed by an organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF). The GHF sites are guarded by both IDF soldiers and American private security contractors to prevent Hamas from stealing the aid, using it to feed its own troops, and then selling the remains back to ordinary Gazans at black market prices.
In short, stolen aid is a major source of income for Hamas, and the appearance of the GHF on the scene was a major threat to that income.
Consequently, Hamas began to issue warnings to the aid workers who staffed GHF. One such message reads in part: “We are fully aware of everything you are doing …you will not be forgiven for your involvement…” Not long after, several aid workers were pulled off a bus by Hamas militia and killed.
Meanwhile, Hamas had already fired on, and killed hundreds of Gazans lined up for aid at GHF distribution centers. According to Palestinian Media Watch, “Hamas is systematically murdering Gazan residents attempting to access food supplies.” This account is backed-up by the official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-jadida:
“In its current crisis today, Hamas has no way out but to establish death squads against anyone who stands in the way of its plunder and tries to obtain a sack of flour outside of its control and its black market.”
In short, Hamas has an obvious motive for killing Gazans who seek aid outside of the centers they control. On the other hand, it is difficult to see what benefit Israel would gain from murdering aid seekers at the centers that they and the US had painstakingly set up.
The Son of Hamas Speaks
It may be that Israel is guilty of some of the crimes it is charged with. During wartime, nations sometimes act out of character. The Allied fire-bombing of Dresden is one example, the U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is another. There are many such examples in modern history. Moreover, the tiny state of Israel, which is entirely surrounded by larger Arab countries, is much more vulnerable than the U.S. was in World War II. In addition, the Hamas Charter explicitly calls for the annihilation of Israel. So do the chants of “Death to Israel” that emanate on a weekly basis from the mouths of Iran’s leaders.
It may be that the October 7th massacre, coming after years of rocket attacks from Gaza and decades of death threats from Iran, had a hardening effect on some Israelis, resulting in a “no-holds-barred” attitude and leading to a betrayal of Western values. That is a possibility, but people who think it’s a certainty should do some fact checking. They also need to look more closely at the ideological enemy that Israel along with numerous other nations faces.
Here is what Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a prominent Hamas leader, had to say about his upbringing:
“Hamas’ first crime against children in the Palestinian societies is not arming them or encouraging them to carry out suicide bombing attacks, it’s the religious ideological indoctrination that I had to go through with one intention in mind: to annihilate the state of Israel. This is Hamas’ primary goal. In this truth there is no confusion. I speak as a firsthand witness on Hamas of their intention. My father is one of the founders of Hamas.”
As Yousef points out, the brutal behavior of Hamas is quite consistent with its ideology. It seems high time for the West to better acquaint itself with that ideology.
Pictured above: Boy at Prayer
Picture credit: Pixabay
