Understanding the past is essential for peace.
The conflict in a nutshell
Thinking that Muslim violence is a response to Israeli actions is the basic misunderstanding. On the surface, some of it is; just a little deeper, everything Israel has done, albeit not always helpful, has been reactions to the extremists. Long before 1967 and decades before 1948, they violently opposed the Jews from having any autonomy on even an inch of land, even though Palestine was never a state or independent to the local Muslims; much of their population was the result of immigration; were small in numbers; weren’t a nation; most of the land was uninhabited; the Jews were desperate to return home for the sake of security and freedom; and the Zionists purchased a lot of land- from Arabs. The fiercest driver of violence was a radical Islamic belief.
Hamas and the other groups are merely the latest incarnations of those extremists. They are against the UN’s Two-State Solution and proclaim their objective to destroy Israel. There were always Arab moderates who wished to accommodate the Jews in some manner, but the radicals- a small minority in the beginning- have murdered, exiled or intimidated them. Through indoctrination, more and more of the public became extreme. Instead of helping Israel deal with the core problem, most of the international community, and especially Arab and Muslim countries, have made it more difficult for her, leading to misery on all sides. The Arab world waged war and terror for decades without ever compensating Israel. The Oslo Accords led to Gaza being free in 2005 and, instead of peace, Hamas staged a bloody coup, grew in power and turned it into a mini Afghanistan. Israel wishes to avoid the same in the West Bank, yet the world keeps pushing her towards it.
Is criticism of Israel antisemetic? Not always, but it’s usually wrong.
On the well-intentioned side, such as mainstream news organizations, there is the basic flaw above that taints almost everything after it, such as misinformation, lack of context or details, etc. That some Jews are part of this group doesn’t change the fact, it only makes it sadder. On the hateful side that bleeds into the mainstream, there is disinformation, propaganda and lies- and there are Arabs and other Gentiles who recognize it.
Supporters of Israel need to focus on correcting false statements instead of criticizing the people who say them. Likewise, more care is needed because misinformation naturally occurs everywhere. For example, many sites quote a statistic that says 68% of the 1948 refugees fled without seeing Israelis. What the source material actually says is 68% of a sample of 100 people out of 70,000 in a camp of refugees. It’s still a powerful stat that supports the reality that the Arab-Muslim war of aggression created the refugees, a majority fled and a minority were justifiably expelled. Less-than-truthful allows the foes to dismiss the whole argument.
Yes, like every democracy, Israel has engaged in propaganda. She should be better than that, but that does not compare to messaging that incites violence and aims to bring about Israel’s demise.
The site does not shy away from Israeli misdeeds, though it does provide the context that others omit or obscure.
It’s easy to cherry-pick excerpts, quotes and events to create a narrative.
“Fundamentals” refer to things that didn’t change with future revelations and are not opinions. For example, the War of 1967 was Israel’s response to years of terrorism and warmongering (see preview). That’s a simple, verifiable fact that cannot be denied. What Israel could have done afterwards is a matter of opinion, ideally based on knowledge. It’s unacceptable to say that Israel would have attacked had there been peace before June 1967.
Outside sources
Some links for more information about a particular point are only valid for that point. The few times we direct people to, say, a page of Alchetron or Wikipedia does mean we find them reliable for other topics. We always seek neutral parties and only use quality Jewish voices to add details to other evidence.
Hotlinking
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