10 pro-Palestinian slogans: Outright lies uttered by “useful idiots”

Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

Anybody who’s been to college can understand the allure to students of a wild party on the quad—everybody singing together, wearing cool costumes and flipping off the establishment.

Unfortunately, the theme of the riotous parties we’ve seen on university campuses over the last seven months is, “Kill the Jews and destroy the world’s only Jewish state.” Even more unfortunate: The reasons these “kids” say they want to perpetuate another Holocaust on Jews are based on obvious lies.

If you watch recent videos of journalists interviewing “pro-Palestine” demonstrators, you notice a remarkable thing: The protesters refuse to answer questions. Often journalists are referred to “the communications tent,” where the “media staff” brush them off:  “We don’t talk to corporate media.”

Pre-eminent Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan visited the Columbia encampment and invited a group of kaffiyeh-clad women to “come over and tell me what you think.” All ignored her except one, who declined to talk, explaining, ”I’m not trained.”

It’s no wonder these demonstrators are forbidden by their leaders to talk—or at least until their brains are sufficiently washed. The precepts behind the banners, placards and riotous chanting are based on untruths.

Most of their hysterical premises—genocide, apartheid, “it’s all ours, Zionists are white supremacists”—can’t stand up to a few simple facts, let alone a disciplined academic debate.

The lies come from the demonstrators’ leaders—students and faculty—who have been “trained” in a neo-Marxist ideology based on critical race theory, which holds that society’s fundamental conflict is between “oppressed” and “oppressors.”

The oppressors are White people, and the oppressed are generally Black or Brown. Jews are labeled as White—against all Jewish historical experience and today’s reality—and therefore are deserving of murderous defeat by Hamas thugs, or demonstrators themselves, “by any means necessary,” as one of their slogans encourages.

Major media—which have the sacred charter to reveal truth and expose lies—refuse to take up this cause, especially on behalf of Jews, whose lynching is viciously demanded today on the majority of college campuses in the United States.

Would the truth behind these lies change the minds of tens of thousands of student protestors swept up in a genocidal frenzy, reminiscent of Hitler rallies in Germany’s Nazi heyday? Sadly, it’s doubtful. The students screaming for Jewish blood are not interested in a discussion, much less in critically confronting facts. They are what Vladimir Lenin called “useful idiots.”

Yet ultimately, it’s the obligation of good people, moral people, rational people . . . to tell the truth and defeat the lies.  It’s our job to disrupt the campus party and discredit the liars.

Here are ten of the greatest lies pro-Palestinian protesters tell themselves . . . and try to sell us.

Lie #1: “Zionists are White supremacists.” A White supremacist believes White people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society. The Jewish people originated as people of color in the Middle East. Zionists believe in the right of Jews to have a state in their ancient, indigenous homeland, where they have lived continuously for 3,000 years. Today, over two-thirds of Israel’s population are people of color.

Lie #2: “Jews go back home—Palestine is ours alone.” In other words, the land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Palestinian Arabs—even though they never owned any of it or ever had sovereignty or a state there. This denies the right of Jewish people to self-determination in a land they purchased, settled, defended against Arab invaders and that the United Nations recognized in 1948.

Lie #3: “Zionists are oppressors.” An oppressor is someone who maliciously exercises power to discriminate against some groups. Israel completely exited Gaza in 2005. It has no power over of the daily lives of Gazans. However, Hamas’s acts of terror—like killing Jews and attempting to destroy the Jewish state—caused Israel and Egypt to blockade Gaza. In the West Bank, the Oslo Accords deny Israel virtually any role in governing Palestinians’ daily lives. No oppression.

Lie #4: “Israel commits genocide.” Genocide is the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members. Israel does not, nor has it ever, targeted innocent Palestinian civilians for killing. All Palestinian civilian deaths have occurred as Israel fights terrorists hiding in residential and public spaces. Tellingly, the Palestinian population in “Palestine” has mushroomed since 1948—from about 700,000 to seven million today. No genocide. 

Lie #5: “Israel is an apartheid state.” Apartheid is a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Israel has no laws or policies separating or limiting the rights of any of its citizens—including its two million Arab-Israelis. Political and civil rights of all Palestinians outside Israel are controlled by two brutal dictatorships, who allow their people virtually no rights or freedoms. No apartheid.

Lie #6: “Israel is a colonial settler state.” A colonizer is a foreign nation that conquers and exploits another nation. The Palestinians never controlled land in Palestine, nor were they ever a nation. However, Jews have for 3,000 years fought colonizers such as Romans, Muslims, Turks and the British. Jews are not foreigners—they are de-colonizers.

Lie #7: “End Israel’s occupation—no peace on stolen land.” An occupation exists when one country illegally controls the territory of another country. Palestinians never owned or controlled any part of “Palestine,” nor was it ever a “country.” Israel has never stolen or occupied Palestinian land—but it made many offers of a Palestinian state, which the Palestinians always refused.

Lie #8: “Free, free Palestine.” Protestors imply that Israel keeps Palestinians in chains. To the contrary, it is the Palestinians’ own dictatorships that prevent their freedom. Palestinians are denied virtually all civil rights, such as speech and press, women are treated as property, often beaten or killed, and LGBTQ+ people are frequently murdered. In fact, not a single Arab nation is free, while Arab-Israelis enjoy more freedom than Palestinians anywhere in the region.

Lie #9: “Right of return for refugees—by the millions we’ll return.” This slogan refers to millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel’s war against invading Arab armies in 1948. No refugees in world history have ever been granted return to land they and their brethren attacked—let alone rights to their grand-children and great-grandchildren. Of the original 700,000 refugees, only about 20,000 are still alive. There is no legal right of return.

Lie #10: Zionist settlers leave us alone.” After Israel defeated Jordanian invaders in 1967, Israeli “settlers” began moving into relatively unpopulated parts of the West Bank—land never owned by Palestinians. In the Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to Palestinian autonomy in areas where 97% of the region’s Palestinians live. Israelis living in West Bank territories do so legally. 

Students who learn to think critically are encouraged to question authority. On American university campuses today, students are taught neo-Marxism, critical race theory and lies about Jews as if these concepts were unquestionable religious doctrine. Thus, students chanting or shouting “pro-Palestinian” slogans do so mindlessly. That is the shame.

Best regards,

James Sinkinson, President

Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.      The events of October 7 have changed our world forever—and especially the world for Israel and the Jewish people. Likewise, the words “Never Again” will never be the same for us. October 7 has shown us that despite all promises of equity and commitments against hate on campus and on our streets, we can never depend on it. We will likely never be free of the scourge of antisemitism, fueled by the most outrageous slanders. I hope you’ll agree that we opponents of Hamas and its savage massacre—and of all who support Hamas, against all humanitarian values—need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Enemies of Israel Tell Five Big Lies”—refutes today’s most vicious lies against Israel and the Jewish people. I hope you’ll review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME published in the Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation.

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