Manufacturing Truth In The Pinocchio State

How Israel spins lies, exploits Scripture, and demands blind faith to manipulate the truth. Act Three in a series called "Jewish Supremacy From The River To The Sea."

For Act One, click here and for Act Two click here

The most dangerous misinformation is official misinformation and the only defense against official misinformation is a completely free press.

- Matt Taibbi

There’s a field in philosophy called “epistemology.” It asks the question: How do we know that we know what we know? Put another way, what are the conditions under which something is true? It depends on who you ask. We get in trouble when we take these conditions for granted or, even worse, live in a society that prohibits us from interrogating these conditions. Otherwise, those in charge have full reign to manufacture the truth that best suits them.

For a long time, the journalistic standard in the United States held that if something can be authenticated and is newsworthy, publish it. This standard is sometimes referred to as the “Pentagon Papers Principle.” It’s a not-so-subtle reference to Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and The WashPost. It demonstrated, among other embarrassing things, that from 1945 to 1968 president after president knew the Indochina Wars were unwinnable yet lied not just to the American public but to Congress.

The Twitter Files uncovered a secret tabletop exercise held at the government-funded Aspen Institute during the 2020 election cycle. Luminaries, like The New York Times and The WashPost, attended the event. Its purpose was to stop any leaks from getting out about Hunter Biden peddling influence to Ukrainian Oil-garchs. They appropriately called it the “Burisma Leak.” One of the most chilling things to come out of the workshop was that provenance and restraint should take precedence over authenticity and newsworthiness. This signaled a cataclysmic shift in journalism. It no longer matters if something can be authenticated. If it comes from the “bad guys,” it’s fake news and shouldn’t be published.

Should authenticated leaks from people with bad intentions be branded as fake news and censored to protect the public from the bad guys? Or does this distort the public’s perception of what’s true? Take Deepthroat — one of the key sources in the Watergate Scandal. Deepthroat was Mark Felt, the deputy director of the FBI. He spilled the beans because he was bitter that he didn’t get promoted, wanted to make the FBI director look bad, and hoped to replace him. Another example was when the Russians intercepted a phone call between Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of Eastern European Relations, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine. The phone call revealed a U.S. plan to install an American-friendly leader in Ukraine. Did the Russians have bad intentions and want to make the US look bad? You betcha.

For me personally, it doesn’t matter if something comes from a bad source with bad intentions. If it can be authenticated, I’m all ears.

To echo the words of Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King’s speechwriter:

If a bigot says to me, the sun is shining. If the sun is shining, I say, yes the sun is shining, because I want to tell the truth.

I’d add that consistency is telling. Someone may be a “bad guy” with “bad intentions.” But if they have a record of telling the truth, it’s a safe bet that they’ll continue to tell the truth. Conversely, if someone is one of the “good guys” with “good intentions” but has a history of lying, chances are they will continue to lie.

The Gaza Health Ministry has a long history of producing highly accurate stats — stats that are consistent with reputable human rights and internationally recognized organizations. To give one of many examples, take Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge. The Gaza Health Ministry’s non-combatant death toll was consistent with the UN. Both the New York Times and Le Monde have conceded the Health Ministry’s high level of accuracy. A study in the Lancet concluded that there was no evidence that the Gaza Health Ministry inflated mortality. Another study in The Lancet concluded that the Health Ministry underreported mortality by 41%. Yet another study in The Lancet concluded that the real death toll was 186,000. Again, we haven’t addressed the moral character of the Gaza Health Ministry. Even if it is a front for Hamas, run by people with murderous intentions, and the embodiment of pure evil, it doesn’t change a simple fact. The Ministry has a long history of publishing reports that can be authenticated.

On the other hand, Israel has a checkered record. Over the years, it consistently makes claims it can’t authenticate, denies independent investigations, and demands that people accept what it reports based on blind faith. Let’s take a leisurely stroll through just a few recent whoppers. In 2022, the American journalist Shereen Abu Akle was killed in the West Bank’s Jenin. Israel first blamed Palestinian militants for her death. As reports piled up that put the culprit squarely on the IDF, the Israeli narrative shifted to “accidentally hit” by IDF in a raid. But CNN’s investigation demonstrated that she was deliberately shot and killed by the IDF.

Nicole Zedeck of Israel’s i24NEWS broke the “beheaded babies” bubbe meise. She got the claim from David Ben Zion. He runs 35 illegal settlements in northern Westbank. After riots in Huwara, he stated, “The village of Huwara should be wiped out. This place is a nest of terror and the punishment should be for everyone.” Israel’s Zaka seconded the “beheaded babies” claim. It added fuel to the fire by stating that Hamas cut out the fetuses of pregnant women. Zaka’s an ultra-religious group that rescues Israeli bodies from the battlefield to give them a proper Jewish funeral. Its founder was accused of diddling little boys and girls. Zaka was insolvent, desperate to salvage its credibility, and needed relevancy. According to Israel’s Haaretz, Zaka has a track record of making stuff up to get funding. United Hatzalah, a Zaka competitor, went a step further and claimed Hamas baked Jewish babies in ovens. News cycles pushed these tall tales hard and they spread fast. Tal Heinrich, a spokesperson for Netanyahu, fried the story into Joe Biden’s mentally addled brain. He thought he saw pictures. The White House later confirmed he didn’t. Israel still hasn’t produced a shred of credible evidence. The IDF refused to investigate out of “respect for the dead.” If anything, there was evidence to the contrary. According to Israel’s official data, only one baby, Mila Cohen, was killed on October 7 in Kubutz Kfar Aza.

An ARCC (Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel) report claims, “Hamas militants systematically carried out acts of rape that involved penetrating the bodies of women, some of whom were injured, while using brutal violence” in the western part of the Negev. More specifically, at the Nova music festival, in the Kibbutzim of Be’eri and Kfar Aza, and to the hostages taken.

But the report gives no concrete evidence that Hamas systematically raped women on October 7. Further, it leans heavily on Jeffery Gettleman’s New York Times’ discredited article “Screams Without Words.” Gettleman’s coauthor Anat Schwartz was an IDF member with no journalistic experience. She liked a tweet that called on Israel to “turn the strip into a slaughterhouse.” The fact that Anat may have a biased spin on what happened, doesn’t bother me.

Here's what does: The story relies on info from Zaka. As already shown, Zaka is an unreliable narrator. But that’s not the worst part.

The real entrée of the article is Gal Abdush, who, according to the authors, “has become a symbol of the horrors visited upon Israeli women and girls” by Hamas’ sexual violence. But there’s one little problem. Neither the New York Times nor the Israeli police give any evidence that she was raped. Even Gal’s sister, Miral, has pointed out that the four minutes between her last WhatsApp message and her reported death wasn’t long enough for her to be raped. Miral responded to an Instagram video:

It doesn’t make any sense that in four minutes, they raped her, slaughtered her, and burned her?

The narratives from eyewitnesses quoted by the New York Times aren’t consistent with each other and change over the course of time. Moreover, Israeli police conceded that they were unable to corroborate these stories. Nor were they able to conjure up one creditable eyewitness of their own. Just to recap, there are no credible eyewitnesses, no forensics, and no third-party investigation. Remember: Israeli officials don’t allow that. You have to take their word for it. They demand blind faith.

In November of 2023, the IDF hit ambulances coming from Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital seven times. Israel claimed they were being used by Hamas but gave no evidence. You had to accept what it said based on blind faith. Human Rights Watch decided to investigate and found no truth to their claim. Further, Israel fired several projectiles at the hospital, including the maternity and cardiac ward. According to Doctors Without Borders, when people tried to exit the hospital, the IDF opened fire. By March of 2024, thirty thousand refugees lived in the Al-Shifa Hospital. The IDF attacked again. This time, it blew up the entire structure. The building was reduced to a husk and surrounded by rotting corpses. The IDF blindfolded and stripped naked doctors and journalists. It proudly admitted to killing over 200 people during the raid. Israel’s pretext was that Hamas had a command center, weapons, and tunnels underneath the hospital. Further, it claimed that the 200 it executed were terrorists. WashPost stated that Israel had no evidence of this. But after a careful examination, CNN concluded that the whole thing looked staged. The most convincing evidence they saw was tunnels. However, Israel built these tunnels in the ‘80s.

In November of 2023, Israel also attacked Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City. It’s the last-standing children’s cancer ward. The IDF claimed that below the hospital was a Hamas torture chamber. In reality, it was a children's bomb shelter.

In early 2024, Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for over a month. The ICJ (The International Court of Justice) ordered Israel to allow food to enter. A month later, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch stated that Israel was failing to comply with the order. The UN warned that half a million people in Gaza were on the brink of famine. In Gaza City, IDF snipers opened fire on hungry people waiting for flour. They slaughtered 112 and injured 700. OCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) stated:

They noted that the 29 February massacre followed a pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians seeking aid, with over 14 recorded incidents of shooting, shelling and targeting groups gathered to receive urgently needed supplies from trucks or airdrops between mid-January and the end of February 2024.

The IDF denied any responsibility and blamed the deaths on a stampede. It even offered video evidence of this. But both the BBC and the NYT demonstrated that the video was edited to exonerate the IDF of responsibility. Al Jazeera published a video that was verified by both the BBC and NYT. In it, you can hear gunshots and see tracer munitions coming from the sky. (These are hit targets for soldiers to shoot at.)

In response to the overwhelming evidence, the IDF shifted its narrative. It now conceded that it opened fire and shot hungry Palestinians in the legs. But it maintained that it shot less than ten people. It claimed the rest were due to the stampede. CNN analyzed dozens of videos and concluded that IDF soldiers opened fire before the food trucks crossed the checkpoint and fired at close range. In other words, they started shooting deliberately and indiscriminately at starving people waiting for flour before the trucks arrived. Doctors on the ground confirmed that gunshot wounds made up the majority of injuries and fatalities. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital verified that victims suffered from primarily gunshot wounds to the head, neck, and chest. Put bluntly, the intent was to kill. Israel continued to invent more exculpatory narratives not worth mentioning.

The Jerusalem Post along with The Times Of Israel accused the Gaza Health Ministry of not only inflating the death toll but also promoting a blood libel against Jews. Israeli officials claimed OCHA reduced the death toll as evidence that the Gaza Health Ministry inflates the number of women and children Israel has killed to cover up the terrorist death toll. This is incorrect. OCHA did not decrease the numbers. Instead, it added nuance by including the number of fatalities identified by name and date of birth.

Israel has made false claims. It’s made accusations without providing a shred of credible evidence. Even more telling, it demands that the public accept whatever it says and deny whatever Palestine says.

Why?

In lockstep with recent trends in American and British journalism, Israel claims that if something comes from the good guys it must be “true” and if it comes from the bad guys it must be “fake news.”

But why is Israel the “good guy” and Palestine the “bad guy.” This is rooted in more claims. Biblical claims.

For you [Israel] are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples to be a people for Himself, as treasure above all the people on the face of the earth.

- Deuteronomy 7:6 NKJ

Israel sees itself as the good guy because it’s the nation of God’s chosen people.

Shortly after October 7, 2023, Netanyahu said,

You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible... Our heroic soldiers have one supreme goal: To destroy the murderous enemy and ensure our existence in our land. We have always said 'Never again'. 'Never again' is now.

He's also referred to Iran as Amalek. During the War of Independence, an Israeli military training pamphlet referred to Palestinians and other Arabs as descendants of Amalek.

Who was Amalek?

When the Israelites were making the exodus out of Egypt and back to the Holy Land, Amalek and his followers — called the “Amalekites” — attacked them.

And what does the Bible command Jews to do to the Amalekites?

Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and ass.

- 1 Samuel 15:3–23 KJV

Why do they deserve such harsh punishment?

Surely, Amalek’s entire tribe didn’t attack. But it’s clear that, according to the Bible, God wanted every member to be blotted of existence.

This is the Lord's punishment for cock blocking the "chosen people" from the "promised land."

What land is that?

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.

- Exodus 23:31-33 NIV

This includes not only all of Palestine but also parts of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Amelek is anyone who gets in the way of Israel taking this land. Israel thinks not only that Amalek needs to be blotted out of existence but also that it is the eternal foe of the Jews and, therefore, the bad guy.

Israel’s line of reasoning goes like this: Make accusations with no evidence based on claims about someone’s character based on biblical claims based on more biblical claims. It’s blind faith all the way down.

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place. and cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!” As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? -Thus they yelled and laughed.

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. “Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you … God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

— Fredrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science §125

What does Nietzsche mean by “God is Dead and we have killed him”?

The philosopher Charles Taylor explains that during the Middle Ages, God was axiomatic. Everything was grounded in God. In the Secular Age, God no longer holds absolute authority or has the street cred he once did. Secular people may or may not believe in some kind of God. But they don’t believe in a God who determines what’s true or morally right.

Put simply, to kill God is to kill his credibility and authority. Once you kill God, you kill all of the things that come along with him. Things like Divine Promises and Scripture no longer have any credibility.

How is an accusation or claim justified? Depends on one’s worldview. For religious people, the big guy in the sky holds absolute authority over what’s true and morally right. So for them, a claim is justified if God says so. For secular people, the natural world holds authority over what’s true and right. So for them, faith-based claims and spiritual evidence don’t cut it. Claims are justified only with evidence from the world.

Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism and a secular Jew, made the faith-based claim that God promised the Jews Palestine. David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel and a secular Jew, made the faith-based claim that God promised the Jews Palestine.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel and a secular Jew, has also made the faith-based claim that God promised the Jews Palestine. Additionally, he’s made other faith-based claims. He’s claimed the biblical Amalekites existed. He’s claimed their latest incarnation is Iran, Hamas, and maybe all of the Palestinians. And he’s claimed that God demands they be blotted out of existence, including every woman, child, and suckling. He’s made wild claims, covering the gamut from rapes to beheaded babies to Hamas command centers underneath hospitals. Claims without credible evidence. And claims he demands others accept based on blind faith.

Netanyahu and secular Zionists like him are conmen not all that different from P.T. Barnum. They peddle extravagant claims they don’t believe.

Stay tuned for Act Four

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