The War on Gaza is a War on Truth

And it will go on.

The truth would have ended the genocide, so the truth had to be crushed.

Today, the world is watching the start of a ceasefire, although its longevity is doubtful. Whatever happens, the war against truth will continue. The dead will remain dead. An exhausted Israel will continue its occupation, even as it re-arms for more slaughter to come.

A ceasefire can’t bring back the victims. It can’t erase the crimes of the last fifteen months or the guilt of those who committed them. That includes the outgoing president and his nominal Secretary of State. (Even the New York Times was obliged to acknowledge that Antony Blinken’s true role was “Secretary of War.”)

That’s the reality, and it can only be suppressed with a sustained battle against truth itself.

Love is Hate

The image above demonstrates the kind of thinking most Western politicians now deploy. It’s from the Jewish Chronicle, a hard-right, journalistically discredited and fervently pro-occupation publication in Great Britain. It’s another weapon in the war on truth.

“If you support the Palestinian Arab cause in any shape or form,” columnist Melanie Phillips writes, “you are facilitating deranged and murderous Jew-hatred.”

“Own it,” she harrumphs.

The column itself doesn’t deserve much attention. It‘s nothing more than the usual, often-rehashed web of Islamophobia, left-hatred, and obvious lies. What’s interesting here is this publication’s willingness to say openly what most pro-genocide advocates try to obfuscate—that any concern for the Palestinian people should be considered antisemitic and promptly banned.

That’s not an exaggeration.

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud

The Jewish Chronicle itself has had a checkered existence in recent years. After it was purchased by a shadowy group of investors, a string of false stories and “wild fabrications” led to public censure and mass resignations.

In this case, even this discredited outlet knew it had said too much, too openly. It toned down the headline—although, stupidly, the original title was still coded into the web address (which still includes, “...if-you-support-the-palestinian-cause-in-any-form-youre-facilitating-jew-hate...”).

No wonder the editor had second thoughts: they had said the quiet part out loud. The headline may have changed, but the column still makes the claim that any support of any kind for the Palestinians should be considered “Jew hate.”

A Deathly Silence

If you accept that argument, it means any pro-Palestinian speech should be banned, to “combat antisemitism.” That’s the point.

If you express any concern for the women and children who’ve been bombed and systematically starved—you’re an antisemite and must be silenced.

If you “accus(e) the IDF of killing journalists and hospital patients”—which has been well-documented by many sources—you’re an antisemite and must be silenced.

If you say that “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza”—a finding validated by an international court and multinational organizations—you’re an antisemite and must be silenced.

If you share this court ruling, or this Amnesty International report, or this UN report— you’re an antisemite and must be silenced.

Weaponizing Jewish Pain

One of the key tools in the campaign to suppress the truth is a politically charged definition of antisemitism, drafted by a private organization specifically to define legitimate criticism of Israel as hate speech. Here in the US, members of both political parties supported a bill that would use that definition to silence free speech. The Biden/Blinken State Department encourages its use abroad.

This false equivalency is also used to discredit those who speak for Palestinian lives in any form, exactly as the Jewish Chronicle does. President Biden and House Republicans have both used that gambit to deflect criticism. That’s why Biden got away with saying of campus occupations, “I condemn the antisemitic protests,” despite abundant evidencethat they weren’t antisemitic at all. It’s why mainstream journalists can repeat lies about a member of Congress even after they’re proven false.

The propaganda tactic of equating Zionism with Jewishness is a recent historical development. The idea of Jewish statehood was introduced by Theodor Herzl 128 years ago, in 1897. That’s barely a blip in Judaism’s 3,000-5,000 year history. It was considered a fringe idea in the Jewish community for decades. My great-grandfather, a rabbinical court judge in 19^th-century Russia/Ukraine, almost certainly opposed it, as did most of his colleagues and fellow Jews.

The Jewish Chronicle was itself anti-Zionist^[1] until 1907, when purchasers bought it to promote their ethno-nationalist project to a community of largely skeptical British Jews.^[2] Its current owners seem to have purchased it for the same reason—to promote propaganda. That must be inferred from its content since, bizarrely, the paper has hidden the identities of its owners.

The War Goes On

The war on truth never ends. It must be sustained by constant lies and a never-ending battle against the act of bearing witness. The fronts in this full-spectrum range from genteel award ceremonies to the beating of student protesters, from the smears of shallow journalists to the bullets and bombs killing journalists in Gaza.

But this war sometimes destroys its own. A new poll suggests that Kamala Harris would be preparing her inauguration speech today if she’d had the political courage to break with the administration over Gaza. Trump’s insistence on a ceasefire may only be a vanity project for his inauguration, and it may not last. Still, it exposes another lie in this war: that the United States was powerless to stop the killing.

Many Americans are afraid they’ll face a totalitarian future. They’re right to worry. But totalitarianism has already gained footholds in this country. We’ve seen totalitarian barriers on our campuses, in the media, and in our political debate. Now, we’re threatened by a new kind of totalitarianism—a totalitarianism of the spirit. Americans of conscience are already afraid to lift their heads for fear of being attacked: by the people around them, by their government, or by the jackbooted foot of the censor within.

This is the work of everyone who waged war this year: Republicans, Democrats, propaganda rags, fanatical billionaires, lobbying groups—you know who you are. You waged war on the truth so you could keep waging war on the innocent. Now, the casualties can be counted. Now, we can mourn the freedoms we’ve lost, and those we’re about to lose. You won. You did it.

Own it.

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^[1] The paper’s archives are fascinating and can be accessed for £2.50 per day.

^[2] Cesarani, D. The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry 1841–1991 (Cambridge University Press, 1994)