Each week, the media pushes many narratives related to Israel and the Middle East. And each week, some are misleading. At HonestReporting, we know our readers are confronted by friends, family, colleagues and classmates who trust the spin they read and see. So we will take a few of the bigger stories and give the facts in a format to help you make the case for the truth. Here’s this week’s roundup.
1. Is Tucker Carlson inciting against Jews?
The short answer here is yes. Tucker posted a video claiming Israel was looking to take over the Temple Mount and destroy the Dome of the Rock. This comes on the heels of him suggesting it wouldn’t have been a bad thing had Hitler won and conquered the United Kingdom. It is interesting that he is channeling Haj Amin Al Husseini, who infamously incited the 1929 Hebron Massacre by claiming a threat to the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque and was a close ally of Adolf Hitler during WWII. Not to mention that Al Aqsa was one of the pretexts for October 7, or as Hamas calls it, the “Al Aqsa Flood.” Tucker has crossed the line many times, but active incitement against Jews, using a flashpoint that has led to massacres of innocent Jews throughout history, is a new low, even for him. Read more about Tucker Carlson’s latest echoing of Haj Amin al-Husseini’s propaganda.
2. Did Navi Pillay earn the Nobel Peace Prize?
Absolutely not. Navi Pillay has spent her career making things worse in the world, not better, and this is not limited to her clear and unrepentant bias against Israel. While the United States and Israel were panning the award, who was praising it? None other than the IRGC, Hamas, Hezbollah and Mehdi Hasan. Much like these actors, Navi Pillay has done far more to promote division and ongoing conflict than peace and coexistence. The only way her receiving this award makes sense is when put in the context of another Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, none other than arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. Read more about Navi Pillay’s undeserved reward here.
3. Is there such a thing as “Occupied Palestine” and is Palestinian “resistance” justified?
Everyone has seen the signs at protests across western cities: “end the occupation,” “resistance is not a crime.” They are half right. Resistance to a genuine occupation, directed at soldiers, can be lawful. But there is no “occupied Palestine,” and there is no law, no code of war, and no standard of decency under which burning families in their homes, bombing a pizzeria, or murdering Olympians can be considered legitimate acts of resistance. These are acts of terrorism, and they are crimes against humanity. No slogan will ever change those simple facts. Read more about how Palestinians and their supporters distort history and international law here.
4. It’s Israel’s fault when Hamas executes hostages?
According to CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, yes, if Hamas executes a hostage in cold blood, Israel is to blame. Why? For the audacity of trying to save the hostages from the dungeons to which Hamas dragged them. CNN ignores the simple fact that any hostage harmed in any way is the responsibility of those who took and held them hostage in the first place – Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Gazans. Not a single hostage would have come to harm had they not been ripped from their beds, safe rooms, or a music festival. Israel trying to save its citizens, while prosecuting a war against those who brutally invaded on October 7, is not why the hostages were in harm’s way. Reporting what happened is one thing; fully inverting blame is entirely another. Read more about CNN shifting blame from Hamas to Israel here.
5. Is the Palestinian Authority a democracy?
If democracy means you have ever held any vote, then sure, the PA is a model democratic society. If democracy also means you have to hold additional elections over time, have a peaceful transfer of power after elections, and implement the basic freedoms and democratic institutions meant to hold the powerful accountable, not so much. Mahmoud Abbas is in the 22nd year of a 4-year term running a corrupt and opaque authority. Hamas won the last legislative elections and promptly, and violently, removed Fatah and PA institutions from Gaza. There is almost nothing democratic about any of that beyond the fact they once held elections and, whether a designated terrorist organization won or not, the winners never relinquished power. Read more about the miracle of Palestinian democracy here.
6. The Israeli Silly Season
In stark contrast to the PA, Israel is a very real and very vibrant democracy, with all the chaos that comes with it. HonestReporting doesn’t weigh in on who should win election campaigns in Israel or elsewhere. However, we do want to remind everyone that just like the United States has the pre-election “silly season,” so does Israel. In the 12 days between now and election day, Israeli politicians across the political spectrum will do what politicians do: make bold pronouncements, some brilliant, some entirely ill-advised, to try and rally their base, undermine their opponents, and maximize their success at the ballot box. Take all of this with the same grain of salt you would take pronouncements from any other politician anywhere else in the world. That being said, it’s worth understanding how the system works, starting with the fact that Election Day is just the first act. Click here for a simple overview of the Israeli electoral process.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
