Author’s note. I served in the IDF. My grandson is a paratrooper today. I know the morality the IDF is trained to uphold, and I reject any false equivalence between a liberal democracy and a jihadist movement that massacres civilians. This is a fight between good and evil. I write from that conviction.
Myth 1: “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
Facts: Words mean things. Genocide is the intent to exterminate a people. Israel’s intent is to destroy Hamas’s military and governing capacity, rescue hostages, and protect its citizens. That is why Israel issues evacuation calls, leaflet drops, phone messages, and corridor announcements; this is why it targets militants, command centers, rocket squads, and tunnels; and why it invests extraordinary resources in intelligence-driven strikes. Civilian deaths in urban warfare are tragic—but tragedy is not genocide, and Hamas’s practice of hiding behind civilians is the moral and tactical root of this disaster.
The proof that the accusation of genocide is false—akin to a modern blood libel—lies in the simple fact that if Israel had intended to commit genocide, it had the ability to do it. The reality that about two million Gazans (the same number as before the war) remain alive in the Gaza strip is clear evidence that no such campaign has taken place. This demonstrates that the charge of genocide is nothing more than a calculated lie, crafted to manipulate and brainwash the international public, serving the political objectives of those who propagate it.
No war in history has ever been carried out perfectly according to plan. Accidents and unintended collateral damage inevitably occur in the fog of war. This reality is magnified when an enemy deliberately hides and fires from within civilian areas, using public buildings—hospitals, schools, places of worship, residential towers, and more—as rocket launch pads, sniper positions, weapons depots, and rest areas for militants.
One tragic and well-known mistake by the IDF was the killing of hostages who had managed to escape Hamas captivity. They approached an IDF position waving an improvised white flag and shouting in Hebrew to identify themselves. Tragically, the soldiers, fearing a Hamas ruse, assumed it was a trap and opened fire, killing them from a distance. It was a horrible error—yet it underscores the kind of unintended outcomes that can occur in the fog of war.
When Gazan civilians are killed, it is likewise an unintended consequence—one directly rooted in Hamas’s intentional strategy of using civilians as human shields. Hamas seeks these outcomes; it embeds itself among civilians precisely to generate casualties that can be weaponized as propaganda. Every such death is exploited to feed a false narrative of genocide, a narrative eagerly embraced by the ignorant and the naïve, particularly among left-leaning audiences in Europe and beyond.
Myth 2: “Israel starves Gazans. It uses food as a weapon.”
Facts: Starvation is not Israel’s objective; defeating Hamas is. The reality on the ground is a war-zone logistics nightmare: crossings closed and reopened under fire, convoys looted by gangs and militants, fuel and electricity disrupted by combat, and a collapsed local authority that cannot reliably distribute goods. Hamas diverts resources for war and hoards supplies in tunnels while civilians suffer above ground. The way out is not propaganda—it is secure corridors, professional distribution, and the dismantling of the militia that built a fortress under a city.
The problem of food shortages in Gaza is not the lack of food itself—there is more than enough in the strip to feed everyone. The real issue is access. Hamas has seized control of distribution by raiding and confiscating incoming supplies, selling part of it on the black market at extortionate prices to fund its war machine, while hoarding much for itself. As a result, ordinary people without power, money, or connections are left hungry and deprived.
Hunger in Gaza is therefore not an Israeli policy but the direct outcome of Hamas’s deliberate actions. Hamas has no concern for the wellbeing or health of its own citizens. Its priority is control—maintaining dominance over the population and pursuing its singular obsession: killing Jews.
And let us be clear—if Hamas had the power to defeat Israel, it would not hesitate to slaughter every Jew it could find. Feeding them would never even cross their minds. If Hamas shows such cruelty and disregard for its own brothers, why would anyone believe it would show mercy or humanity toward those it openly brands as “subhumans”?
Do you still consider moral equivalence?
Myth 3: “Street protests inside Israel will end the war and diminish anti-Israel sentiment.”
Facts: Apart from the families of the hostages—whose anguish I do not fault—many protest leaders explicitly demand an immediate end to the war. That demand, if met before Hamas is dismantled, produces the opposite of what Israelis seek: safety.
If the war stops now, what happens next?
- Hamas stays in power in Gaza and declares “victory” for surviving.
- Rearmament and rebuilding begin at once: tunnels, rocket factories, command nodes, kidnapping units—funded and trained by Iran and its network.
- Rocket fire and cross-border raids resume once stocks and infrastructure recover.
- Deterrence erodes; Israel appears divided and hesitant, inviting tests on every front.
- Another October 7-style attempt becomes a question of when, not if.
Protests can pressure coalitions and influence tactics—delays, pauses, swaps—but forcing a premature halt comes at an intolerable strategic cost. Security must come first: dismantle Hamas’s military and governing capacity completely, then argue policy. Anything less is simply a down payment on the next massacre.
Moreover, these protests against the government embolden Hamas. They harden its resolve to hold onto the hostages and reject compromise. Hamas cannot win on the battlefield, but if Israel fractures under internal pressure, its leaders may be pushed to concede. Such an outcome would hand Hamas the very victory it seeks, leaving these low-life brutes positioned to claim success and prepare for the next round of bloodshed.
At the same time, the protests serve as fuel for antisemites worldwide. They seize upon the sight of Israel’s own Jewish citizens turning against their government as both justification and inspiration for targeting Jews everywhere—even those who disagree with Israeli policy. In other words, protests meant to promote justice achieve the opposite: strengthening Hamas’s resolve while igniting and legitimizing antisemitic hatred across the globe.
Myth 4: “Netanyahu drags out the war for personal reasons.”
Facts: Any Israeli government after October 7—left, right, unity, or otherwise—would have to neutralize Hamas’s ability to repeat mass murder. Debate strategy, competence, and timelines; that is healthy. But ascribing secret motives is a distraction from the unavoidable security requirement to make October 7 impossible to repeat.
It is cynical to suggest that a prime minister whose central mission is to defeat Israel’s enemies and secure its survival is merely engaged in a calculated conspiracy to evade prosecution for comparatively minor misconducts. Such a claim is simply not credible.
Netanyahu’s objective of winning the war is the proper and necessary objective of any Israeli prime minister under the current circumstances. There is no doubt in my mind that he is pursuing the right course. If his leadership also benefits him personally, that is merely a side effect—not the objective itself.
Israel needs a strong leader now, and Netanyahu is the right person at the right time. Once the war is over, the public will be free to judge him, just as the British judged and did not reelect Winston Churchill after his victory over the Nazis. But until then, the focus must remain on victory and survival.
Myth 5: “Prayer and Torah study protect Israel more than serving in the IDF.”
Facts: Faith is deeply meaningful to many Israelis. But a modern state survives through shared civic duty—soldiers, reservists, logistics, and deterrence. Israel’s ethos of service is not a slogan; it is the foundation of how wars are prevented and won. The IDF’s moral code, Purity of Arms, demands the use of force only when necessary and only to the extent required. Protecting the nation is a mitzvah too—and it requires showing up. At the same time, only full time and totally dedicated Torah scholars might be exempted unless they wish to serve actively, and that would lower the numbers drastically.
Throughout Jewish history in Israel, survival was never entrusted to prayer and Torah study alone. Jews always rose to fight their enemies; they never claimed that prayer by itself would provide salvation. The enduring truth is this: God helps those who help themselves. That principle, that logic, must guide Israel’s policies today, for it is the surest path to the survival of the Jewish state.
Myth 6: “Hamas cannot be defeated—You cannot defeat an Idea.”
Facts: Ideologies can linger underground, but armies and regimes can be broken. The goal is strategic defeat: to shatter Hamas’s command structure, finances, rocket industry, border control, and ability to govern; to fracture its myth of deterrence, and to deny it safe havens. A degraded clandestine network without territory, factories, or freedom of movement is no longer the force that launched October 7.
Even if one accepts the notion—though I do not—that an ideology itself cannot be destroyed, rendering it irrelevant is a close second, and may well be sufficient. At this stage, that is an acceptable substitute. The ultimate objective is to secure Israel’s peaceful future. When those who seek its destruction are stripped of power and influence, they become irrelevant—and with irrelevance comes safety.
Myth 7: “Antisemitism spiked because of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.”
Facts: The surge in antisemitism began immediately after Hamas’s massacre—well before any Israeli ground maneuver. It targeted synagogues, schools, kosher businesses, Jewish students, and bystanders thousands of miles from the battlefield. The IDF’s entry into Gaza was not the cause of anti-Israel demonstrations or the eruption of open hatred; those were already underway long before the first Israeli soldier set foot on Gazan soil. Clearly, the ground operation was not the trigger. This is not policy critique—it is age-old scapegoating wearing a new mask.
Antisemitism has been present for me since my first breath. It did not begin with Netanyahu’s leadership or his uncompromising wars against Israel’s enemies. Those who insist that his actions triggered the current wave suffer from a kind of Netanyahu Derangement Syndrome. They lack historical perspective and confuse cause with effect.
The true roots lie elsewhere: decades of Arab propaganda, bankrolled by oil wealth, have saturated American universities, where massive donations reshaped curricula, influenced policies, and entrenched antisemitic narratives. This sustained campaign has indoctrinated generations of students, who now parade their ignorance under the banner of activism. Add to this the massive wave of Islamic migration into Western Europe and the United States, and it only fuels the already glowing embers of hostility, fanning them into a dangerous fire.
Israel’s very existence is intolerable to many Muslims, a thorn in their eyes. And because most Jews worldwide support Israel, they too become targets. Tragically, some Jews— even prominent ones—have, knowingly, chosen to side with the antisemites. Some do it, unaware that their actions are being used by the antisemites, because These useful idiots, in both case, have trapped themselves in an ideology or a hate syndrome so blinding that they can no longer think logically, so long as their ideology is affirmed.
Myth 8: “A Two-State Solution is the Only Solution.”
Facts: There has been over a hundred-year war between Jews and Arabs in the area of biblical Judea, (later was renamed by the Roman Empire as Palestine, and finally renamed by the Jews as Israel). Every time a two-state framework has been attempted, what mattered was what happened next—acceptance, rejection, or violence—and whether security and governance conditions existed to make any partition durable.
During the Ottoman Empire rule of the area, there was one significant incident in 1908 where Jewish immigrants, especially those from Eastern Europe, were attacked by Arab mobs in Jaffa following land disputes. Several were killed. But during the British mandate there were several significant pogroms initiated by the local Arabs against the local Jews. The following is a summary of these events.
Major Pogroms Under the British Mandate
- 1920 - Nabi Musa Riots (Jerusalem, April 4-7, 1920)
- Organized Arab riots erupted during the Nabi Musa festival.
- 5 Jews killed, over 200 injured. Homes and synagogues in the Old City looted.
- This was the first major organized anti-Jewish riot under the British Mandate.
- 1921 - Jaffa Riots (May 1-7, 1921)
- Began during a May Day march; mobs turned on Jewish residents.
- 47 Jews killed, 146 wounded; Jewish homes and businesses destroyed.
- The Yishuv (Jewish community) formed the Haganah in response.
- 1929 - Hebron and Safed Massacres (August 23-29, 1929)
- Triggered by false rumors that Jews were planning to seize the Temple Mount.
- In Hebron, 67 Jews massacred; centuries-old Jewish community destroyed. Survivors evacuated by the British.
- In Safed, 18 Jews murdered, dozens injured, homes and synagogues torched.
- In total across Palestine: 133 Jews killed, 339 wounded.
Escalating Violence (1930s-1940s)
- 1936-1939 - The Arab Revolt
- Large-scale uprising against British rule and Jewish immigration.
- Hundreds of Jews were killed in ambushes, bombings, and riots.
- Jewish communities in isolated areas were particularly vulnerable.
- The revolt cemented the Arab leadership’s rejection of Jewish statehood.
- 1941 - Farhud in Baghdad (though outside Palestine, critical context)
- A Nazi-inspired pogrom in Iraq during Shavuot.
- 180 Jews murdered, thousands wounded, Jewish property destroyed.
- This event deeply affected the broader Jewish world and highlighted the spread of antisemitic propaganda from Europe into the Arab world.
- 1947 - Anti-Jewish Riots (across the Arab world, following UN Partition vote, Nov 29, 1947)
- In Palestine: Arab attacks on Jewish buses, neighborhoods, and farms.
- In Arab countries: Pogroms against Jewish communities in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and elsewhere.
- These riots escalated directly into the 1947-48 War of Independence.
Just as before the establishment of the Jewish state, the Israeli government, after 1948, has repeatedly sought peace with the Palestinian Arabs through the creation of a Palestinian Arab state. Each time, these efforts failed because Arab leaders refused to finalize an agreement. Instead, every attempt was followed by renewed violence initiated by the Palestinian Arabs, resulting in the deaths of many innocent people. Decades of such failed initiatives have demonstrated the futility of the process. By Einstein’s definition of insanity—repeating the same action while expecting different results—any new attempt to establish a Palestinian Arab state living peacefully alongside Israel would sadly meet the same fate. The following chronology illustrates this reality..
- 1967 - The Three No’s of Khartoum
After the Six-Day War, Israel signaled willingness to exchange captured territories for peace. Arab leaders responded with the Khartoum Resolution declaring: no peace, no recognition, no negotiations with Israel. - 1993 - Oslo Accords (Rabin & Arafat)
Mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO. Palestinians received self-rule in parts of Gaza and the West Bank, with the expectation of eventual statehood. Outcome: surge in Palestinian terror; process unraveled. - 2000 - Camp David Summit (Barak & Arafat, mediated by Clinton)
Israel offered a Palestinian state on 90-95% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and East Jerusalem as capital. Arafat rejected the deal without a counter-offer. Shortly after, the Second Intifada erupted. - 2005 - Gaza Withdrawal (Sharon’s Disengagement Plan)
Israel unilaterally evacuated all Jewish settlements and military forces from Gaza, hoping the move would be welcomed by Gazans and pave the way for peace and prosperity through cooperation with Israel. Instead, Hamas seized control in 2007 and turned Gaza into a base for years of rocket attacks against Israel. - 2008 - Olmert Peace Offer (Olmert & Abbas)
Offered virtually 100% of the West Bank (with land swaps), Gaza, and shared Jerusalem under international oversight. Abbas walked away and later admitted he did not accept it. - 2010-2014 - Netanyahu Negotiations (Netanyahu & Abbas, mediated by U.S.)
Netanyahu accepted in principle a demilitarized Palestinian state and froze settlement building for 10 months. Talks collapsed when the Palestinian Authority signed a unity pact with Hamas. - Other Notable Efforts
- 2002 - Arab Peace Initiative: Proposed normalization in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines. Israel raised concerns but did not reject it outright; Palestinians did not pursue it.
- 2017-2020 - Trump Plan (“Deal of the Century”): Offered Palestinian statehood with economic aid and security guarantees. Palestinian leadership refused to engage.
Myth 9: “Iran’s nuclear project is peaceful.”
Facts: Tehran’s behavior—advanced enrichment, stonewalling, and military entanglement through proxies—betrays its ambitions. Iran arms, trains, and funds groups dedicated to Israel’s destruction while pressing a nuclear program that outpaces any plausible civilian need. A regime that bankrolls October 7’s authors is not a reliable steward of sensitive nuclear capabilities.
Here’s the nuance from their most recent IAEA reports:
- 🔹 Enrichment Levels: Iran continues to enrich uranium up to 60% purity, which is technically just short of weapons-grade (90%). The IAEA has flagged this as a serious proliferation risk since the material could, in theory, be further enriched for use in a weapon.
- 🔹 Undeclared Activities: A May 2025 IAEA report revealed undeclared nuclear material and past secret nuclear work. The Agency criticized Iran for failing to provide credible explanations, leaving open questions about its nuclear intentions
- 🔹 Safeguards Gaps: Rafael Grossi (IAEA chief) has stressed that due to Iran’s restrictions on inspectors and incomplete transparency, the IAEA cannot provide assurances that Iran’s program is exclusively peaceful.
- 🔹 Language Used: Importantly, the IAEA stops short of saying “Iran is building a bomb.” Instead, they warn that Iran has the technical capability and the materials that could allow a rapid “breakout” if it chose to weaponize—but whether Iran has made that political decision remains outside the IAEA’s mandate to declare.
In January 2018, the Mossad carried out a dramatic operation in Tehran, breaking into a warehouse in the Shorabad district and smuggling out over 100,000 files, CDs, and documents—the so-called Iranian Nuclear Archive.
- These materials contained detailed designs, schematics, photos, and plans from Iran’s secret Amad Project (1999-2003).
- The project’s purpose was explicit: to design and eventually build five nuclear warheads, each with a yield of 10 kilotons of TNT, small enough to fit on a Shahab-3 ballistic missile.
- The documents included details on nuclear weapon cores, detonation systems, and underground test site planning in Iran’s desert regions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented some of this evidence publicly in April 2018, declaring that Iran had “lied” about never having pursued nuclear weapons.
Myth 10: “Israel is an Apartheid State”
Facts:
1. Definition of Apartheid Under International Law
- The 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid defines apartheid as:
“inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” - Israel is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democracy, not a racial regime. The conflict is political and territorial, not racial. Arabs in Israel are not a different “race” from Jews—they are part of the same Semitic family.
2. Full Citizenship Rights for Arab Israelis
- About 21% of Israel’s population are Arab citizens (~2 million people).
- They hold Israeli citizenship, vote in elections, run for office, and serve in the Knesset (parliament).
- Arab judges serve in Israel’s Supreme Court (e.g., Justice Salim Joubran).
- Arab citizens serve as doctors, professors, ambassadors, and even in senior positions in the police and military.
This directly contradicts the notion of a segregated or subordinate population.
3. Freedom of Religion and Worship
- Muslims, Christians, Druze, Baháʼís, and Jews all practice their religions freely.
- In contrast, in most Middle Eastern states, Jews are persecuted or expelled (e.g., Jewish communities in Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria no longer exist).
- Israel protects access to Christian and Muslim holy sites—including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
4. Arab Political Power in Israel
- Arab parties and politicians participate in Israeli politics; some have even been kingmakers in coalition governments (e.g., Mansour Abbas and Ra’am Party in 2021-2022).
- Arab MKs (Members of Knesset) freely criticize the government—even in wartime—without facing suppression.
- Israeli Arabs are fully integrated into society, serving as doctors and nurses in hospitals treating Jewish patients, as judges—including one who sentenced a former Israeli Prime Minister to prison—as attorneys, builders, athletes representing Israel in international competitions, restaurant owners serving Jewish and Arab customers alike, and in many other professions across the country.
This is unthinkable under true apartheid, where the oppressed group has no political voice.
5. Shared Public Institutions
- Arab and Jewish citizens share hospitals, universities, shopping malls, beaches, buses, and workplaces.
- Hebrew and Arabic are both official languages (Arabic had special status until 2018, and remains widely used in government, law, and public services).
- There are no “separate benches, buses, or beaches” as in South African apartheid.
6. Distinction Between Israel and the 'West Bank'/Gaza
- Critics often conflate Israeli Arabs with Palestinians in the 'West Bank' and Gaza, who are not citizens of Israel.
- The 'West Bank' is under a unique political situation due to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian Authority governs Areas A and B (about 90% of the 'West Bank' population).
- Gaza has been under Hamas rule since 2007, after Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005. Israel does not govern Gaza internally—it only controls borders for security reasons. Security
- Measures in these territories arise from ongoing armed conflict, not racial segregation.
7. Contrast with Real Apartheid
- South Africa’s apartheid was based on immutable racial hierarchies: Black citizens had no political rights, were segregated in every sphere, and faced systematic discrimination by law.
- In Israel:
- Arabs vote, hold passports, and participate in society.
- Arab-Israeli women have the highest university enrollment rates in the country.
- Arabs serve in professions at every level of society.
8. Security vs. Racial Discrimination
- Restrictions such as checkpoints, the security barrier, or ID permits in the 'West Bank' are not racial—they apply to all non-Israeli residents of the territories, regardless of ethnicity.
- They were instituted after waves of terrorism (suicide bombings, rocket attacks), not to maintain “racial domination.”
- They are measures of security, not apartheid laws.
Bottom line
- There is no moral equivalence between a state defending its citizens and a movement that glorifies mass murder and kidnaps children and grandparents as bargaining chips.
- Civilian suffering is real and heartbreaking; it is worsened by Hamas’s strategy of human shields and tunnel cities under hospitals and schools. The quickest path to relief is to strip Hamas of its capacity to wage war and to restore professional, accountable governance.
- Israeli democracy—its protests, elections, free press, and courts—is a strategic asset. It will still be here after Hamas’s war machine is dismantled. That is precisely the difference between us and them.
Dr. Avi Perry is a former professor at Northwestern University, a former Bell Labs researcher and manager, and later served as Vice President at NMS Communications. He represented the United States on the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Standards Committee, where he authored significant portions of the G.168 standard. He is the author of the thriller novel 72 Virgins and a Cambridge University Press book on voice quality in wireless networks, and is a regular op-ed contributor to The Jerusalem Post and Israel National News.