Points to Ponder No 35 20th October, 2015
In the face of the lies, rumors and propaganda against Israel disseminated by the Palestinian leadership and endorsed, validated and corroborated by the international media one cannot but ask when does a lie become the truth; when does a rumor become a fact; when does propaganda become actuality? How long does it take till people believe the lies they tell?
The terrorists wielding knives to kill Jews/Israelis are hailed as heroes for their valiant actions on the one hand but are described as unarmed Palestinians killed by trigger happy Israelis on the other. Here we have a reporter declaring that the terrorist was an innocent unarmed bystander while the picture on the screen clearly shows the knife in his hand.
Then we have the widely publicized claim by Abbas that an innocent 13 year old Palestinian child was not only shot by Israelis but was left to bleed to death in the street. The video clips showing the child stabbing an Israeli thirteen year old, who has only now come out of a coma, are ignored, as are the photos of the Palestinian child alive and well in the Israeli hospital where he was recovering from his injuries.
This tendency to spread false rumors, to blatantly lie knowing full well that every word will be accepted as absolute truth is not a new propaganda tool against Israel. It calls to mind a lovely story I once read.
An elderly sheikh was sitting on the hill under his favorite tree gazing down at his village below, enjoying the pace and quite. But not for long. A group of young, noisy children decided to play not far from him disturbing his ruminations. His attempts to shoo them away were unsuccessful.
Being the wise old man he was he had a brilliant idea. He decided to tell the kids that down in the village they were handing out free ice creams, knowing full well that this was pure invention on his part. As was to be expected, the children ran back to the village, leaving him to continue his meditation and contemplations in peace.
Suddenly it hit him. If he didn’t hurry back to the village he would miss the free ice creams.
