Clearly I am not objective. I love Israel and hate Hamas. I believe Hamas is to blame for the deaths of not only Israelis but Palestinians as well. I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is a great man and Khaleed Meshaal is an evil man. I agree with Netanyahu when he says, “If the Arabs put down their weapons there would be no more war. If Israel put down her weapons, there would be no more Israel.” Clearly I am not objective.
I make no claims to be objective. However, despite my lack of objectivity I do seek the truth. So much so that I acknowledge that Israel has made mistakes and done some things they should not have done over the past 66 years. But there is no truth that justifies the attacks Israel has had to endure, be they violent attacks from terrorists or verbal attacks from anti-Semites. If presented with factual evidence of a certain truth, even one that opposes my views, I would address it honestly and make every attempt to be fair in my assessment. The question is, why won’t my enemies do the same?
It’s because the truth has no meaning to them. Most anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment is not based in truth. It’s either based in ideology or communal involvement. People like to be part of something. Even something motivated by hate. The ideology however is what drives everything. It drives terrorism, stirs up the masses, allows the leaders to make statements they know are not true, but justify with their beliefs. A friend once said to me, “people buy with emotion and justify it with logic.” Once the masses buy the bill of goods sold to them by the mini-dictators popping up all over the world, they search for the logic to back it up. For example, the number one lie being told is that Israel is committing genocide. Once that message is sold to the Muslim masses by the Imans, all they need now is a complicit al-Jazeera or CNN to show a man holding an injured or dead child in his hand in Gaza and the people have their “logic” to back up the sale.
Here’s the problem with that. When you use that method the truth is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is pushing your agenda. Even visual evidence won’t matter anymore. You passionately sell an ideal, even one of hate, show one image, maybe only make one ridiculous claim that can be used to back it up, and its sold. Russell Brand goes on a hateful diatribe against Israel on his online channel he calls the Trews, claiming it is True News, and people who like the movie star buy into it, even though he sits there and blatantly obstructs the truth from his listeners. Hamas sells the idea that Israel is indiscriminately bombing Gaza, targeting women and children, and those who have already bought into anti-Zionism and Jew hatred see a blown up building and they’ve seen enough. We could have a 10 page document and 100 pictures proving that Hamas put those innocents in harms way by using them as human shields and it would make no difference. They’ve already decided what they want to believe. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.
Do we combat this with lies of our own? I say no. But I do think we need to be a little less concerned about whether or not we are unfair to those allowing those lies to be spoken and should be spending less time defending those who only express an (anti-Semitic) opinion. Tolerance is a very charitable trait, particularly in war time, and as we all know charity starts at home.
As I responded in social media when someone criticized my letter to George Clooney, “Never Again” does not mean Never Again unless we insult George Clooney. Never Again means recognizing the signs and doing all we can to prevent it. I believe the truth is always the right way, but being tolerant at our own expense is not.
CLICK TO JOIN “THE GLOBAL COALITION FOR ISRAEL” ON FACEBOOK
Follow Holland’s Heroes on Twitter @hollandsheroes
Holland's Heroes 
Leave a Reply