By John Friend
Wars are almost always based on lies, from the dawn of humanity until the modern era. The purpose of these lies—tales of war crimes and barbaric behavior—is, of course, to demonize the “enemy” and induce war fever and hatred among the populace, whose support and approval leaders prefer before entering a military confrontation. Consider the outrageous lies told during World War I, where German soldiers were accused of grabbing Belgian babies, throwing them into the air and skewering them on their bayonets. It was all fake news, but believed by many in the fog of war and repeated for decades afterward.
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Then there are the endless lies about World War II, where the Germans were again subjected to fantastical atrocity propaganda. Claims of work camp inmates having their heads shrunken, their skin made into lampshades, and their fat converted into bars of soap on an industrial scale for German housewives, among other bogus imputations, were repeated for a generation. And we’re all old enough to remember the lies peddled by the mass media and political leaders alleging then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered his soldiers to murder babies in incubators during the invasion of Kuwait. Those claims were debunked, but did their job, enraging people around the world—until they were proven false.
Meanwhile, just a few years ago, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was hysterically charged with gassing his own people. That slander, too, has been roundly discredited.
Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his armed forces are being accused daily of any number of war crimes ranging from mass rape and the cold-blooded executions of civilians to deliberately targeting apartment buildings, childcare centers and hospitals in Ukraine.
In the Mideast, the Western media’s reporting on the conflict between Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that maintains broad popular support in Palestine, and the state of Israel is, as well, nothing short of incredible—but nothing new. Widespread dissemination of atrocity propaganda has reached new heights, given the ease with which any wild accusation can be transmitted instantaneously around the globe.
Luckily, some social media activists, including highly respected investigator Keith Woods, are systematically examining the information coming out of Israel in real time. As honest investigators do, they affirm what is true and expose what is obviously fake news, war propaganda, unverified allegations or just plainly ludicrous assertions.
On the other side, pro-Israel and pro-Zionist social media influencers, virtually every major American politician, and the corporate media are all working hand-in-glove, orchestrating a global propaganda campaign to portray Hamas fighters as bloodthirsty barbarians, hate-filled terrorists attacking Israel without reason.
Highly publicized stories of mass rapes, brutal executions, and even babies with their heads chopped off are, however, being skeptically challenged as AFP goes to press. We have these internet sleuths and independent investigators to thank for taking a good, hard, unbiased look at this information and determining its credibility.
It is interesting to note that, in the Mideast, according to the mass media, Israeli victims are described as being “killed.” Palestinian men, women and children, on the other hand, simply “die.” Of what? We are rarely told. We know they are being “killed” because we have access to decades of film footage showing the countless victims of Israel—wounded, bloody, dying and dead Palestinians. But in the U.S. media, only Israeli suffering is worth the air time. At any rate, numerous questions still remain that mainstream newscasters should be addressing about the events Israel is exploiting to justify “Operation Flatten Palestine” or “Operation Civilian Slaughter,” whatever they end up calling the military siege of Gaza. For instance:
- How was Hamas able to acquire 5,000 missiles without Israel or the United States knowing?
- Where do you hide 5,000 missiles in an area barely twice the size of Washington, D.C.?
- How did Israeli forces fail to detect explosions and bulldozers blasting holes in multiple spots along the thick concrete walls surrounding the Gaza “prison” through which Hamas fighters entered Israel?
- Did Joe Biden actually see photos of beheaded babies as he said recently in a speech? The Jerusalem Post claims it has seen photographs of the corpses of burned babies, but were they beheaded while still alive by Hamas fighters? We want to see some persuasive proof before repeating those incendiary claims.
- If Israel has other atrocity photos, wouldn’t it show them to help sway vacillating world opinion?
- How did the Wall Street Journal “know” within hours of the onset of the attack that Iran had “planned and funded the operation”?
- Will Israel’s coming massacre in Gaza galvanize Islamic and Christian support for Palestine?
- Cui bono: Who benefits from these tragic events? How could it possibly be the Palestinian people unless Israel is actually defeated?
As the world is subjected to this coordinated atrocity propaganda operation, nearly every U.S. official is lining up to pledge unwavering support for a Palestinian slaughter.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury has issued a blank check to Benjamin Netanyahu. No doubt demands for direct
U.S. involvement are forthcoming. The orchestrated news stories being artfully disseminated—the majority unverified or taken out of context—are thankfully being examined and refuted in real time. Will it stop the warmongers occupying D.C. and Jerusalem? Doubtful.
John Friend is the Associate Editor of AFP.
