4 Myths Debunked

Suppose a teacher entered the school’s playground during recess only to look up and witness Johnny punch Teddy. If she then reported to the administration that Johnny started the fight, that teacher would not be doing justice to the skirmish.

The teacher’s first concern should be to stop the fight. Then, she might begin to ascertain what happened.

When she learns that the fight was going on long before she arrived on the playground, she would then know that the first punch she saw was not the first punch. Now, this doesn’t mean that Johnny didn’t start the fight. He may well have. But the fight didn’t start with the punch that she saw.

Myth #1 “It all started on Oct 7th”

When it comes to the war on Gaza and the century long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, many throw their arms up the air and declare that the conflict has been going on so long there is no way to determine who began what when.

There is no denying that this issue is complex and that there is more than enough blame to be shared by all sides.

But is it reasonable to suggest that we cannot know who’s responsible?

In one sense, it might be.

Going back to the schoolyard, we might learn that Johnny and Teddy have been fighting for years. Any attempt to determine whose fault the most recent fight is may prove futile.

At the same time, there is always a beginning point.

That beginning point may have been when Johnny was two and his father began planting seeds of hatred inside him toward Teddy and his family.

Or it could have been a few years later when Teddy unintentionally fell into Johnny while both were in the lunch line. Teddy’s “push” came as a result of someone else stumbling into him and knocking him off balance. Teddy, of course, didn’t realize that Johnny was upset with him, nor did he recognize that Johnny didn’t know it was an accident. Otherwise, he might have apologized.

When Johnny sought revenge a few weeks later for the “push”, Teddy was alarmed. And so the tit-for-tat began.

The point is, there is always a beginning.

When it comes to the recent war on Gaza, one thing we do know is that it did not begin on October 7th. October 7, 2023, was a response to Israeli oppression. You might think Israel’s oppression is justified. But you must also recognize that it is what provoked Hamas’ response.

Myth #2 “Israel has no choice but to annihilate the Palestinians”

Some contend that Israel must annihilate the Palestinians, or at the very least, remove them from the land, because these two people cannot live in peace.

Anyone who makes this assertion simply doesn’t know their history. And one must recognize what it is that they are actually saying. Are we truly going to resign ourselves to the conviction that the only solution to this conflict is genocide, or, at the very least, ethnic cleansing?

“Well, the Palestinians have proven they cannot live in peace with the Israelis.”

Really, it’s that simple?

First off, this is simply not true. Jews and Arabs have coexisted peacefully in this area for centuries. The present conflict may trace its origins to the early 20th century, but it cannot be traced back much further than that.

Second, it ignores the fact that Israel has continued to oppress the Palestinians. Whether this oppression goes back to 1967 and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the land thefts that have continued with the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, or 1948 and the confiscation of Palestinian land and the expulsion of 750,000 Arabs from what is now Israel, or to the beginning of the century and the mass immigration of Jews to the land of Palestine, may be disputed.

What cannot be disputed, however, is the fact that Israel has oppressed the Palestinians.

Have the Palestinians responded appropriately? Maybe not. But I am not arrogant enough to sit here and say that I would not have responded in kind if someone killed my wife and kids, stole my land, and maintained an oppressive apartheid condition over my continued existence.

It is incredible to me that Palestinians have not been more violent. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians should be applauded for their commitment to non-violent resistance.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, who was a key early Zionist leader, stated clearly, “Every indigenous people will resist alien settlers as long as they see any hope of ridding themselves of the danger of foreign settlement. That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and will continue to do, just as the [Native Americans] or the Zulus did, and just as the Jews did in their day.”

What, then, was his solution? He proposed The Iron Wall: “Zionist colonization, even the most restricted, must either be terminated or carried out against the will of the native population. This colonization can, therefore, continue and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population — behind an iron wall which the native population cannot breach.”

Myth #3 “If they would just release the hostages, this whole thing would be over”

Yeah, it would. Unfortunately, Israel now has two to three times more prisoners than it did before October 7. If Israel would stop torturing Palestinian hostages and release them, then perhaps Hamas may well release the Israeli hostages, and there could be an end to the current conflict.

Oh, you meant if Hamas would release the hostages! My bad. I thought you meant that if Israel released the thousands of Palestinians (including hundreds of children) that they are illegally detaining (“prisoners” or “hostages”), then the war would be over—after all, the illegal detaining of thousands of Palestinians was, according to Hamas, one of the primary reasons they attacked on October 7th.

To say that if Hamas released the hostages, then the conflict would be over betrays great ignorance concerning the current crisis.

For one, the hostages are only a small part of the present war on Gaza. That is evidenced by the fact that Israel has not made sufficient effort to obtain their release.

Bezalel Smotrich (the Finance Minister in the Israeli cabinet), in fact, said, “Returning the hostages is not the most important goal. It is obviously a very, very important goal, but if you want to destroy Hamas so that there can’t be another October 7, you need to understand that there can’t be a situation where Hamas remains in Gaza.”

Also, it is apparent that Netanyahu has used October 7th as a pretense to ethnically cleanse Gaza. The longer Hamas holds the hostages, the more justification Netanyahu and his right-wing cabinet have for their annihilation of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the people.

So does he really want the hostages released? Maybe. But let’s just say that he doesn’t seem too bothered by their continued detention.

NB: There are conspiracy theories to be reckoned with that question why Israel was so surprised by the attacks when they had ample intel to the contrary.

Myth #4 “But Hamas won’t agree to a ceasefire”

This claim is incredulous.

NB: Now, I do not deny that negotiations for such matters are well beyond my pay grade, as well as the pay grade of virtually every reader of this post. (For those whose pay grade is sufficient to address this issue, you are welcome to make a charitable contribution to determinetruth here).

The evidence betrays the assertion. For one, Hamas offered Israel, and its co-belligerent ally the US, a ceasefire deal in the first week of the conflict (October 2023). Israel rejected it—adding fuel to the conviction that Netanyahu wanted a justification for annihilating Gaza, and a ceasefire didn’t fit into that equation.

Second, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire along with Israel and the US, and it was enacted in January of 2025. In fact, the details of that ceasefire essentially correspond to the deal that Hamas offered in May 2024. For 8 months, Israel delayed agreeing to the ceasefire that Hamas proposed. Why did it take Israel 8 months to agree to the terms that Hamas had offered?

It seems like Netanyahu is more resistant to a ceasefire than Hamas.

Third, the current round of shelling began when Netanyahu broke the ceasefire deal. What, then, do you mean that the Palestinians don’t want a ceasefire? They agreed to one 6 months ago—the same one that they offered 14 months earlier.

Finally, if Israel has been so intent on a ceasefire, as their acceptance of the Jan 2025 deal, which was offered in May 2024, suggests otherwise, why then, in July of 2024, did they assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, the lead negotiator for Hamas? Killing your enemy’s lead negotiator does not signal a desire for a ceasefire.

We must pursue peace. However, peace will never be attained if we continue to spread misinformation. Misinformation only fuels those in power.

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