Identifying as a Jew
10 min read
Facts, information and sources to help counter some of today’s most common smears.
We are being bombarded with inflammatory smears and misinformation about Israel’s war with Hamas. Here are five big lies about Israel, along with the facts to help you respond.
Accusations that Israel is seeking “revenge” implies that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel and since Israel has nothing to gain by fighting the deadly terror group.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The October 7, 2023 attacks showed Hamas’s genocidal nature. Hamas is dedicated to Israel’s destruction and calls on Muslims to fight Jews in a worldwide jihad. On October 7, 2,500 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel via land, sea, and air. They raped, tortured and killed over 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped over 230 Israelis, including 30 babies. While these attacks were going on, Hamas launched nonstop barrages over 2,000 missiles into Israeli towns and cities. Hamas is prepared for a long fight, having amassed an army and built 500 km of bomb-resistant terror tunnels in the region.
Since October 7, Hamas has launched thousands of deadly missiles into Israel and continues to do so every day. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheva, Ashkelon, Eilat, and Haifa have all been targeted. Israelis understand that they are in a war for their very survival. They’re fighting out of necessity, not revenge.
A recent poll found that a majority of Americans between 18-24 erroneously believe that Israel, not Hamas, runs Gaza. Israel first conquered Gaza in the 1956 Suez Crisis with Egypt and returned the region in a negotiated settlement afterwards. Israel conquered Gaza once more in the 1967 Six Day War. Egypt relinquished its claim to Gaza in its 1978 peace treaty with Israel.
Israelis began settling in Gaza in the 1970s. For a time, relations between Jews and Arabs were peaceful in Gaza. With the start of the Intifada in 1987, this changed. Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, uprooting all Jews from the territory; even Jewish graves were removed. Gazans soon elected Hamas into office, and Hamas has governed Gaza ever since.
Gaza is not a “prison” in any sense. Both Israel and Egypt have land borders with Gaza and - given Hamas’ bloodthirsty terrorism - both nations insist on inspecting goods entering the Gaza region. (Israel alone inspects goods entering Gaza via sea.) Under the most recent rules, agreed in 2013, all non-military goods are allowed into Gaza. (This has been suspended since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.) In 2023, before the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, more goods entered Gaza than during the pre-blockade era.
In a prison, people can’t leave and certainly don’t return, yet both Egypt and Israel allow goods and people to enter and exit the territory. Before the Oct. 7 attacks, nearly 60,000 Gazans a month entered Israel for work purposes. Between January 1 and October 6, 2023, 113,234 people left Gaza for Egypt while 116,651 people entered Gaza from Egypt.
Huge numbers of Gazans have also emigrated in recent years, often heading to the USA, Europe, and Turkey. A Turkish news report published on Oct. 6, 2023 lamented the “mass emigration” of young men from Gaza. In fact, the report noted, the major factor in limiting the flow of Gazans moving abroad for work wasn’t Israeli or Egyptian blockades, but Hamas’ own bureaucracy, which slowed down the process of obtaining travel visas.
Besides the legal ways to move goods and people into and out of Gaza, Hamas has built a huge network of deep tunnels, used for smuggling illicit goods and transporting terrorists. Over the past decade - in a move that’s been almost entirely overlooked by the Western press - Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has demolished thousands of homes and farms along the border with Gaza, creating a “buffer zone” of no man’s land, designed to prevent Hamas from using tunnels to smuggle and attack.
The prison-like conditions that do exist in Gaza are due the fanaticism of Hamas. Residents are told what to wear, with whom to associate, what to think, and what they can say publicly. Women are forced to wear black hijabs and long black robes in public - even at the beach. Political opposition is banned, and gay rights are nonexistent. Those who transgress these draconian rules face torture, prison or death at the hands of Hamas officials.
The biggest drain on Gaza’s economy is Hamas, which mismanages Gaza’s economy, steals aid on a rampant scale, hoards resources for its fighters while neglecting civilians, and terrorizes its population. Right now, while civilians in Gaza are suffering, Hamas is holding months’ worth of fuel, food, medicine and other goods.
Economic indicators show just how damaging Hamas has been. Until 2007, when Gazans elected Hamas to govern them, Gaza and the West Bank had similar GDPs per capita. Since then, the West Bank has seen substantial economic growth and its per capita GDP is now substantially higher than it was in 2007. In Gaza, the trend has been in reverse: Gaza’s per capita GDP has declined, currently to about half of what it was thirty years ago.
Hamas’s disastrous rule disincentivizes investment. The US State Department notes: “businesses in Gaza have reported instances where Hamas courts and officials have employed coercion or have otherwise acted outside the legal system when engaging with private business.” In other words: demands for bribes and an atmosphere of fear and intimidation have driven away business. Before Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Gaza farms produced 15% of Israel’s agricultural output and a large majority of its organic produce. With rich farmland and 24 miles of dazzling Mediterranean coast, Gaza could be an economic powerhouse. Hamas has quashed that potential.
Other major reasons for Gaza’s poverty is Hamas’ refusal to invest in ordinary citizens and its plundering of aid meant for civilians. In a recent interview with Russia Today, for instance, a Hamas official living in Lebanon described how the terrorist group manufactures its own long-range Qassam missile launchers out of water pipes. That means fewer pipes to service Gaza’s rapidly growing population. On October 15, 2023, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which handles UN aid on the ground in Gaza, tweeted that they’d been ordered out of their headquarters in Gaza City while Hamas officials loaded the UN’s supplies of fuel and medicine on trucks and drove them away. UNRWA, which has been accused of being close to Hamas, deleted the tweet soon after, and later denied that any looting had taken place. A soaring birth rate (over 43% of Gazans are under 15) also puts additional strain on an already rickety social infrastructure.
Gaza is indeed a poor region. According to the US Government, its per capita GDP in 2021 (the most recent year for which figures are provided) was $5,600. The economy grew over 7% from 2020; total GDP was estimated to be approx. $3 billion. Yet by some measures, Gaza ranks highly among industrialized nations. Gaza has 13 hospitals, for example and it’s maternal fetal mortality rate is below that of the United States. It has high levels of schooling and an educated workforce. If anything is holding back Gaza’s economy, its Hamas disastrous reign of theft and corruption.
A majority of Americans between the ages of 18-24 believe that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are just as wrong as Hamas’ bombing of Israeli cities, plus its October 7 attacks. Israel has been accused of committing war crimes. Yet, despite the deaths of civilians in Israeli airstrikes of Gaza, Israel's response is within the confines of international law.
Military actions undertaken for self-defense are widely acknowledged to be legal. Article 51 of the UN Charter allows for “self-defense” in the case of “armed attack.” Israel has been clear that its goal is to liberate the people of Gaza from Hamas, and to destroy this terrorist organization. Hamas, not civilians, are Israel’s target. The Council of Foreign Relations notes that this goal is legal: “International law does not explicitly prohibit the use of force to eliminate an organization such as Hamas, which Israel, the United States, and many other countries consider a terrorist group.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross contains a list of actions that constitute war crimes on its website. It reads like a list of Hamas’ recent actions, not Israel: “Deliberately targeting civilians who are not directly taking part in hostilities; Pillage; Hostage-taking; Making religious or cultural objects the object of attack, provided that they are not military objectives; Torture and other forms of inhumane treatment; Child recruitment; Rape and other forms of sexual violence.” Hamas, not Israel, is guilty of each and every one of these actions.
Hamas ensures civilian casualties by locating their military bases and rocket launchers inside schools, mosques and hospitals. The Israeli military has announced they’ve located Hamas’ main headquarters is located under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Hamas ensures that every single man, woman and child in Gaza becomes a human shield.
Hamas also ensures maximum human suffering of its own population by its refusal to build any bomb shelters or air raid warning system in Gaza. The way most Gazans know an area will be bombed is from advanced warnings from the Israeli military for civilians to get out of the way. Even when Israel does warn of an impending attack, Hamas actively discourages civilians from leaving targeted areas. It’s a horrifying truth that every single civilian casualty in Gaza benefits Hamas by swinging public opinion against Israel. Hamas uses this truth to maximize civilian suffering and bolster its position.
With so much misinformation, it can feel difficult to stand up and call out lies about Israel when you hear them. Yet today, with Israel’s survival on the line, it’s more crucial than ever to call out incorrect smears and slanders.
Read reputable news sources, including English language news from Israel. Blog, post, and speak out for Israel. As Israel fights, we can all be soldiers on the front lines of the battle for comment and discussion about Israel around the world. Start by battling these and other pernicious lies about the Jewish State.
No. Israel is not committing war crimes. Israel was attacked by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023. Countries that are attacked have a right to defend themselves. Israel is waging war within the confines of international law. Israel ensures and goes out of their way to avoid and minimize civilian casualties. The IDF releases flyers, makes phone calls, and sends text messages to warn civilians of a strike ahead of time in a designated area or building.
No. The citizens of Gaza have been governed by Hamas since 2006. Israel does not have any citizens or soldiers in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli disengagement in 2005.
Read about 5 More Myths About Israel’s War with Hamas.
lack of education in this sensitive subject is evident I hope all the people that commented and praised you do more research, not just believe this nonsense. We live in a day and age where we have endless ways to get information and learn more, I hope people stop just believing anything.
Lol might want to come back n rethink this one
Is it a lie that Haza is sitting on one hundred billion dollars worth of black gold aka oil and that America has invested interested in Israel for this very reason?
Only the gullible think war is clad in truths,
Given the tunnel digging Hamas does, I think that if there was any oil they’d have found it - and used it for their war machine.
Also, since Israel has NOT governed Gaza for the past twenty years, what good would it do the US to court her favour for oil controlled by Hamas?
Only the gullible believe such easily disproved lies. Yours is a dilly!
Palestine vs forgeries
historiesresearches.blogspot.com
Hello Yvette. Thank you for insightful article. Been skeptical what I read online these days, so thank you again for reaffirming these lies which I believe important.
I'm very worried about safety of Israeli hostages held by terrorist Hamas. As pointed out in lie #5, Hamas use human shields, hide under hospitals and refused to build bomb shelters for the hostages ensuring maximum suffering. So now airstrikes increased to completely destroy Hamas hospitals and schools, ensuring maximum human suffering, can you assure hostages will survive human shields and return home safely? I'm horrified at the thoughts.
Do you believe Mr. Netanyahu ensure priority safety of hostages and citizens of Israel, as he failed once before on the horrible day of Oct 7th? Much prayers to all. Seeking justice
True and strong...but I feel that these hundreds of thousands of antisemites showing their true colors aren't stupid. They don't give a damn about "Palestinians" and know that they are a fake, made-up people. Even the thousands in Muslim countries marching "in support" hate them. (See any open doors for them in the rest of the Muslim world?) No, this is a world drunk on Jew hatred, the oldest and most ignorant hatred. But their fatal mistake is thinking the Jews of 2023 are the same as the Jews from 1933. Like Hamas, they've been indoctrinated to believe we will walk silently into the gas chambers. They're so filled with self-righteous outrage when they see images of Gaza that it blinds them to pay attention to those pictures of Gaza and get that this is what happens when you mess with us.
Outstanding!
Well done. I've seen many of these lies on Twitter et al.
Could Hamas and the others have been mentioned by Hashem’s prophet Ezekiel?
“I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and lead you out with all your army, horses, and riders, all of them clothed in splendor, a vast assembly, all of them with bucklers and shields, wielding swords. Among them shall be Persia, Cush, and Put, everyone with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its cohorts, Beth-togarmah in the remotest parts of the north and all its cohorts—the many peoples with you. Be ready, prepare yourselves, you and all the battalions mustered about you, and hold yourself in reserve for them. After a long time, you shall be summoned; in the distant future, you shall march against the land of a people restored from the sword, gathered from the midst of many peoples—"
Clear and concise.... perfect. Lets hope it gets absorbed by all
Excellent article; I am exhausted by trying to explain all this. I will print or forward to those who don’t understand all of this.
A excellent article
One more thing, Real peace is impossible with Israels immediate neighbours and those further afield until the Islamic clerics world wide stop their hate, UNRWA is unable to continue hate education in schools. And for the news and social media stop the one sided barrage against the only democracy in the whole of the Middle East (and beyond) with sa tiny sliver of land for the Jewish people, rightfully ours
Well put as usual
May I ask a question? Does the Jewish community leadership and Jewish Congress and Senate members ever offer direct information and question statements by the State Department and government?
Example. A two state solution. We have at present Israel, which was supposed to have Judea and Samaria. Jordan (78% of the Mandate for Palestine given to an Arabian Hashemite prince). Gaza
Example. Have they read there Hamas Charter, the PLO Charter, Hezbollah Charter?
I was born in the UK, I am becoming older, the more aware of the great British Betrayal began soon after the San Remo Resolution. Denying Jews in the Mandate to own weapons while the Arabs could dip so, Forcibly denying Jews entry while aiding and abetting Arab immigration prior to 1948.
Thank you for publishing this: I am not Jewish, but I know that I have Jewish ancestry from generations about in Eastern Europe, and East Africa/Ethiopia. And many Jewish friend - my job involved a lot of contact with League of Jewish Women. I am thinking about sharing this on Facebook, because I know that many British people have no idea of basic facts. I pray that this awful situation will be over quickly, fairly and with very very limited bloodshed. Oh - and ZAKA need worldwide acclamation.
Thank you Dr. Alt Miller for this article on some of the common discussed themes amongst people who oppose Israel particularly Lie # 2 and Lie #3 before October 7 th invasion by Hamas. Also # 5 is currently being touted now as if people forgot that Hamas planned a military strategy to kill, maim, and destroy Jewish civilians, thus promoting Israel to retaliate.
Israel cannot ever let its guard down again. There will always be a terrorist group if not Hamas, there will be another one.
The young Palestinians or others that are growing up now are being shaped by this war, by lies being taught to them, and what the media circulates.
We can combat antisemitism with truth and education however it must be a lifelong endeavor.
I will never forget and always support the Jews with love.
Just what I’ve been looking for - thank you!
Jennifer James as difficult as you identify that the task is you really must make the effort to pick any one of the assertions made in this article to be factually wrong. I noted that the author seemed to back most assertions to articles that supported the assertion being made......again Jennifer James your assertion must be supported by evidence.....else the author's assertions stand
Wow, the anti-semites are flooding Aish today.
Push off, sweetie.
We have no time for people who do not want us to live.
And do not lie, do not say "I am a Jew".
While I appreciate the intent of this article, and much information here is factually accurate as can be checked, and this is helpful in trying to address some of the heinously false accusations against Israel, I think it's a major problem with very serious consequences that we keep mistakenly speaking about the Gazans as though they are innocent victims of their circumstances. Yes, the average caring and justice seeking person finds it more palatable to see these people as innocent civilians and to only see Hamas, as a world recognised terrorist organisation, as the perpetrators here, but this is not true and leaves us unable to take correct action to stop all those who are actively and vehemently seeking to murder Israelis and who have no interest whatsoever in allowing peace at all.
Is there a non Jewish or Israeli news source that is not biased against Israel? when I share articles like these they are dismissed by people that are convinced that Israel is a white colonialist state, perpetrating genocide against brown people.
Yes, @pamela m scharaga, I remember AOC referring to this as a “white vs. brown” issue. We are in upside-down world. Just living and doing any acts of goodness is heroic for us right now.
Great question.
About 60% of Israelis are brown-skinned; Hamas doesn’t check skin color before performing their heinous acts.
Dr. Yvette,
Good day.
“Under the most recent rules, agreed in 2013, all non-military goods are allowed into Gaza. (This has been suspended since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.) In 2023, before the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, more goods entered Gaza than during the pre-blockade era.”
I do appreciate your article and other articles posted by Aish to provide truthful information about this war. However there is no clear justification to date on why Israel blocked food, fuel and basic necessities from entering Gaza after Oct 7th .Perhaps you can explain this matter in your next article.
Thank you.
Perhaps you can explain why Israel needs to feed people who are intent on destroying Israel?
Why are you conflating Palestinians and Hamas?
Remember how the Allies sent humanitarian aide into Germany as they were advancing on Berlin?
Neither do I.
Please enlighten me. Thank you.
You seem to have a fixed idea in your mind that Israel has a duty to care for the Palestinians. Get it OUT! Would YOU have a duty to care for someone who tried to assassinate YOU?
The ones who do have such a duty are the Arab League countries who created the “Palestinian People” in the first place. But Saudi Arabia is not interested, Egypt fears Hamas so much it doesn’t dare allow anyone with even the slightest connection to Hamas anywhere near it and Jordan is small and limited in resources.
The others are all under the influence of Iran, still Israel’s implacable enemy and Hamas’s handler.
The world needs to cry out to these countries to open their hearts, hands and above all their borders to their “stricken brothers” (even though the strike is deserved).
Dvirah,
The number of Palestinians killed have almost reached the 9,000 figure.
Let me ask you a question. Is the ongoing military operation align with Torah and Jewish values, especially when the casualties are rising by the day?
Thank you
YES, YES, YES!!!! The Torah states explicitly that when someone comes to kill you, “rise up and kill him first”. The Palestinian Covenant of 1964 includes the elimination of all but a handful of Jews as a primary objective; the small remnant of Jews they will graciously allow to live will be slaves to ruling Moslems. Hamas’s charter goes beyond that: no Jews at all should remain.
This is not a numbers game. This is an existential war against an implacable enemy.
Israel gives civilians ample warning and ample time to leave the target area. If they don’t, whether by their own choice or because Hamas prevents them, Israel cannot afford to worry about them. She has her own citizens to protect.
Secondly, most of the “casualties” are NOT civilians - they are Hamas terrorists. Don’t be fooled.
Great evidence based narratives. I will forward this to my friends and relatives. More powers!
Thank you for this article which provides a concise clarification-very necessary in times where we are being faced as a nation with full scale blood labels!!
Even Hamas is not pro-Palestinian. Any objective appraisal of the situation should see that. Whatever hardships the Palestinians suffer has its roots in the actions of Hamas and terrorist organizations before it. They must surely have recognized that their attack would result in reprisal. I would wager that most Palestinians simply want to live in security and peace.
Unfortunately, most of the civilians in Gaza voted Hamas into power, knowing full well that their charter calls for Israel's destruction; therefore you propose a losing wager!
The only thing they might not have wagered on themselves is that Hamas would make their lives miserable and use them for their own purposes, as described in the article.
they voted for Hamas at the muzzle of a Kalashnikov
They also voted for Hamas in 2007... the last time Hamas allowed an election to be held.
As has been stated, and contrary to fake news reports, they were not imprisoned in Gaza. More importantly, see how they—not just in Gaza but throughout the Arab world—proudly celebrate Hamas' brutal (actually they're quite cowardly) "victories" against civilians – do you propose that's also under threat of rifle shots?!
And what about all the faces contorted in hatred and threatened violence against Jews, not to mention the outright lies spewed about Israel on college campuses everywhere; we haven't seen Kalashnikovs there!!
That would be hateful, ignorant, adults(parents/politicians/professors/teachers/etc..)brainwashing. The "Kalashnikovs" are the hateful rhetoric..
Thank you for your excellent and very clear article. It is such a shame that so many people don't have clear information and are under so many false impressions about Israel.
How can I send this information further
What are you a survivor of? If you don't mind me asking....but you're making it fairly public.
I was horified to see American "Jews"
rallying with the Arabs against Israel.The rally I saw on the internet claimed 500 Jewish supporters including 24 rabbi's
Please don't grace those leftist "freethinkers" with the honorary title of 'rabbi"!
Despite whatever semichah they may claim to have, they are not really a part of Am Yisrael if they identify with our rabid enemies more than they sympathize withand feel pain over what those brutes did and want to do to us.
Just as Hashem will save us as He always has, He will eradicate them along with those who seek to destroy us. (They're very likely part of the Eirev Rav.)
This is a very sad and destructive comment. We need unity, and that means recognising that about half of the Jewish people are left wing and about half are right wing, and we need to stop speaking disparagingly of each other. The people who want to murder us for being Jews don't care which political party or which denomination we identify with. Is this really not enough atrocity yet to get it - we need to love each other as one family - a family who often disagrees on all sorts of things, but who also see that we agree on many things, and most importantly who remain one loving family above all.
P.S. The Vilna Gaon wrote 200 years ago that the souls of Bnei Yisrael had by his generation already stopped coming into the world, and that ALL Jews by his time were Eirev Rav.
What does “eirev rav” mean, not just literally but practically? Thanks
Originally it referred to people who left Egypt with Am Israel but did not actually accept the Torah. Today it means people whose ancestors were converts or non-Jews who raped Jewish women during a progrom.
But since a convert after conversion is a fully fledged Jew and by Jewish Law it is the mother’s identity which determines the child’s, today’s “eirev rav” is just as Jewish as a direct descendant of Abraham.
Hear! Hear!
Thank you for this! I want to use this to inform people of the truth!
Thank you for all this information. Even us little old ladies can go to battle for Israel in the comments section of the newspapers and magazines we already subscribe to, and articulate truth among the flood of lies. Eastern cultures operate under an honor / shame paradigm, and if something shames them, the Holocaust for instance, they deny it. If their daughter is raped and becomes pregnant, they kill her, an honor killing. Nothing is "true" or "false", only "it honors us" or "it shames us". No amount of argument will get through to the Eastern mind. Thinking is not rational but rather emotional. But we can state our case in Western media and influence decision makers