A victory in self-deception
Op-ed: The Palestinian ‘narrative’ has scored another victory, this time at UNESCO. But it’s not a victory; it’s actually a defeat. The addiction to lies does not change reality or solve any problem—it pushes away the chance for reconciliation or peace.
Dr. Omar Jaara of An-Najah University appeared on Palestinian television four years ago and said that Moses had led the Muslims out of Egypt and that the subsequent Israeli conquest of the land was “the first case of a Palestinian liberation through an armed struggle.” He attributed the battle between David and Goliath to the Palestinians as well.
For a moment, it seemed like a satire program, but it was completely serious. “This is our logic, and this is our culture,” Jaara explained in the interview, which was recorded by Palestinian Media Watch.
The leading Palestinian principle is: We’ll make every effort to harm Israel, but won’t make any effort to improve our situation (Archive photo: AP)
Four years have passed and the historian is celebrating. The Palestinian “narrative” has scored another victory, this time at UNESCO. Allegedly, this not just a victory but an overwhelming victory: Although Brazil and Mexico expressed reservations over the resolution on Tuesday, there was no new vote, and the decision remained unchanged. The Palestinians even managed to convince Christian countries, as Israeli diplomat George Deek tweeted, to adopt a resolution which means that “Jesus was a liar.”
There is no big surprise here. After all, we are living in the era of narratives, which is the post-factual era. It possible that in a year or two, UNESCO or another international organization will adopt a resolution confirming Jaara’s narrative about the Exodus from Egypt.
But it’s not a victory. It’s actually a defeat. If we wish to know why the Palestinians remain in their grim situation, this self-deception is one of the reasons, and the international support they receive only worsens it. It’s not just happening in international bodies with a majority of dark states. The Palestinians are enchanting, or terrorizing, the academia in the free world, to the point that most of its members have become loyal servants of the Palestinian lie—sorry, the narrative. They are slowly succeeding in turning the Palestinian Nakba into a pivotal, unique event, an ultimate crime, although tens of millions of people have experienced worse cases of expulsion and uprooting. They receive almost absolute support in most leading newspapers in the free world. Nevertheless, they believe the Jews control the academia and the global media.
It’s not that the Palestinian propaganda is sinking into an abyss of self-deception and illusions on its own. The problem is that this propaganda has become the leading motif not just in institutions with a dark majority, that it has been adopted—or is being encouraged —by an absolute majority of “human rights organizations” in the West. They are always on the Palestinian side, and this support is mainly racism. Because they think the Palestinians can get away with it.
The addiction to lies does not change reality and does not solve any problem. On the contrary, it pushes away the chance for reconciliation or peace. It perpetuates Palestinian suffering. It should be mentioned that in Lebanon, for example, there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who can only dream about the standard of living of the Palestinians in the West Bank. For decades, they have been suffering from deep discrimination enforced by law, but no one cares about them. No one is fighting for their rights. There has not been a single UN discussion about them.
The leading Palestinian principle is: We’ll make every effort to harm Israel, but we won’t make any effort to improve our situation. In practice, they are not really harming Israel; they are harming themselves. After all, the UNESCO resolution does not really help the Palestinians; it just makes them feel that they have scored some virtual, empty victory.
All this should not lead to the conclusion that Israel can rest on its laurels. Far from it. The fact that the Palestinians are engaged in self-deception does not call for another freeze or another outpost or another acre. Because we also have people who see it as a victory, and that is self-deception as well. The Palestinians are in over their heads. We should look at what is happening to them so that it won’t happen to us too.
