Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Contact
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab US Community
    • Arab Stores Targeted
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
    • TwoGuys on Politics
  • Ray on Tiktok
  • Subscribe Ray’s Columns
  • Archive 2004-2013
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Center Washington DC to host Conference on Second Trump Administration Policies toward the Middle East American Arabs
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey Activism
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step American Arabs
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla Activism
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition American Arabs
  • WRMEA Sept 2025 issue cover
    Video Interview Delinda Hanley of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Activism
  • ADC ArabCon Image
    ADC to issue awards for community leadsership at Convention American Arabs
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    CAIR Wins Injunction Ordering U. of Missouri to Permit Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine into Homecoming Parade American Arabs
  • Orland Township and logo
    Orland Township board shows concern for District 230 students American Arabs
  • Israeli snipers fire at Palestinians protesting in support of hunger strikers at the Gaza border with Nahal Oz. Photo copyright Gaza Strip Photographer Ahmad Hasaballah
    CAIR‑Chicago Urges DOJ to File War Crime Charges Against Naperville Man Who Joined IDF, Admitted Sniping Children Christian & Muslim
  • United Nations UN Building Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania 2019
    Denying Palestinian Officials Visas to Join UN General Assembly: Wrong and Hypocritical: American Arabs
  • United Nations UN Building Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania 2019
    UN experts urge US to grant visas to Palestinian officials, uphold diplomacy for peace Human Rights
  • Terrence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas with HE Turki Alalshikh Photo courtesy of GEA
    HE Turki Alalshikh joins opening faceoff ahead of Fight Week for blockbuster Canelo-Crawford clash in Las Vegas Arab News
  • No Azure for Apartheid
    Microsoft fires a Jewish worker for taking part in the “Liberated Zone” American Arabs
  • Jeremy Ben Ami J Street President
    J Street among many Jewish groups supporting justice for Palestine and Israel Activism

Pro-Israel lies from activists opposed to peace

Posted on August 14, 2015September 24, 2018 By rayhanania No Comments on Pro-Israel lies from activists opposed to peace
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

The news media publishes the lies and distortions of many pro-Israel activists without bothering to double check the facts. They offer cautions that comments should be civil but they allow the authors of the columns to libel anyone who believes that Palestinians have rights and that violence in the Middle East is caused by increasingly hostile and extremist activism in Israel itself.

By Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania covering Chicago City Hall (1976-1992)
Ray Hanania
covering Chicago
City Hall
(1976-1992)

This week, a pro-Israel activist who formerly worked with the anti-Arab organization the “Anti-Defamation League” in Seattle, Robert Jacobs, published a column that blames the Palestinians for all of the problems in the Middle East while whitewashing crimes committed by Israel.

The column was misleadingly titled “Israel must defend its citizens as any country would” and it ran in the Seattle Times newspaper.

The column begins by asserting, “The columnists, commentators, professors and idealistic students who push a one-sided image of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict don’t promote the peace they say they seek.”

But the truth is that the author is the primary offender of the principle he just spelled out.

Jacobs writes, “They place the blame on Israel and misrepresent the facts, claiming that there is a moral equivalency between Hamas firing thousands of missiles at civilian targets and Israel trying to protect and defend its citizens.”

No, Mr. Jacobs. Palestinian activists demand that Israel recognize the rights of Palestinians and to recognize Palestine as a state. They demand that Israel end its campaign of violence and terrorism against Palestinian targets. And they demand that people like you stop lying. Stop misrepresenting the facts.

Seattle Times Robert Jacobs anti-Arab anti-Truth column
Seattle Times Robert Jacobs anti-Arab anti-Truth column

The “moral equivalency” you offer is twisted and distorted and untrue. You exaggerate Israel’s side while lying about the Palestinian side, and then compare the two to make your lies look like the truth.

The truth is Israel instigates the violence against Palestinians using jet airplanes, soldiers, tanks and missiles of their own. And when Palestinians respond to the attacks, people like Robert Jacobs lie to cover up Israel’s war crimes, exaggerating the conflict to place all the blame on Palestinians and pretend that Israel did not in fact instigate the violence.

Jacobs is guilty of the very accusations he makes in his column against the Palestinians. But his lies and distortions expose someone who must really oppose peace and supports the continued brutality against the Muslim and Christian Palestinians those who disagree with him.

He claims Israel doesn’t want the conflict. Well, neither do Palestinians. But Israel controls all of the land and refuses to share the land. They have the brutal military that is oppressing Palestinians and strangling the citizens of the Gaza Strip.

Jacobs doesn’t tell the whole truth. He fails to note that Israel confiscates (steals) lands from Christians and Muslims living in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, and then uses that stolen land to build “settlements” that are built exclusively for Jewish-only residents.

Israeli Democracy means Democracy for Jewish citizens but Apartheid discrimination, oppression and violent bullying of its non-Jewish citizens and occupied prisoners.

And it’s not just the Muslims that Israel is discriminating against. It’s the Christians, too.

I am Christian. My father was born in Jerusalem and my mother was born in Bethlehem. My father’s family was expelled by Israel in 1948 and the lands owned by my mother’s family were confiscated in 1967 and placed in a racist limbo that prevents non-Jews from claiming property in Israel.

Israel cleanses the land of Christians and Muslims and then asserts that because the Christians and Muslims are not there, the lands should go to the State or to Jewish citizens of Israel for development and racist settlement.

Many of my relatives are also “Israeli citizens” living in pre-1967 Israel and they face constant discrimination. Israel prioritizes the needs of Jewish Israelis above the needs of non-Jewish Israelis. So many schools, which are “Jewish-only” in Israel receive huge amounts of government support while schools for Christian and Muslim children receive nothing.

Israel wants non-Jews to not only leave Israel through its discriminatory policies, but it also wants to bully and intimidate non-Jews living in the occupied lands to leave also, of face brutality and even death.

Robert Jacobs claims that Palestinians are responsible for the killing of many Israelis but he doesn’t explain that Israel provokes many of the incidents. Israel kills far more Palestinians than Palestinians kill Israelis.

It’s true, when Israel attacks and kills Palestinian targets, some Palestinians respond with anger and violence. But while Jacobs argues that Israel has a right to defend itself, he doesn’t argue that Palestinian Christians and Muslims have a right to defend themselves against Israeli violence.

The sheer imbalance in the brutality is something Jacobs ignores in his column. Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians int he past few years in comparison to less than 100 Israelis killed during the same period.

Is the real problem that Palestinians are killing Israelis, or that Israelis kill a thousand times more Palestinians?

I am surprised the Seattle Times didn’t call him on so of his most outrageous assertions. For example, Jacobs argues Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005 and Hamas used it as a base to attack Israel.

“In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, leaving the Palestinian Authority (PA) in charge. Hamas took over from the PA in a violent overthrow. Since then, Hamas has fired more than 11,000 rockets into Israel. More than 5 million Israelis live in Hamas’ missile range. More than 500,000 Israelis have less than 60 seconds to find shelter after a rocket is launched at Israel.”

He continues with his exaggerations and writes, “From 2005 to 2009, Israel did little to stop the thousands of Hamas missiles. Finally, after four years, Israel responded in 2009. For a few months, the missiles stopped. Then they started again and, after thousands more missiles, Israel responded in 2012.”

Here’s the truth. Israel withdrew its soldiers and dismantled its extremist “Jewish-only” settlements that were built on Palestinian lands in the Gaza Strip in 2005, and then surrounded the Gaza Strip with a brutal military contingent that almost weekly fired missiles and weapons at Gaza citizens.

Israel frequently attacked civilian targets in the Gaza Strip after it “left” using jet airplanes that dropped napalm, white phosphorous,  and fired thousands of missiles into civilian neighborhoods. Having killed Palestinian civilians, the Israelis would point to the feeble resistance of Palestinians who use rockets that couldn’t even come close to the advanced weaponry used by Israel.

The answer to prevent Hamas rockets from being fired is to prevent Israel from killing Palestinian targets, invading Palestinian lands, and expanding Jewish-only settler terrorist settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

  • (Click here for a factual overview of the conflicts Israel started that provoked Hamas rocket attacks, intentionally so Israel could use the conflicts to achieve their settler land goals.)
  • (And if you want to know the truth about Hamas and how Israel helped get the organization on its feet int he 1970s as a strategy to fight the PLO, please read this article, too.)

Israel engages in a brutal practice called “collective punishment,” something Jacobs didn’t explain.

“Collective punishment” is when Israel kills an individual accused of violence of terrorism (but never tried or convicted), and then punishes the families and neighbors of the victim with violence, and then confiscates the land and possessions of the victim’s survivors.

Jacobs notes that Palestinians name their streets after “terrorists” but fails to mention that Israel does the same, naming their streets after terrorists and electing terrorists to their government. Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir were both murderous terrorists who were elected prime ministers of Israel. SO was Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, killers who murdered civilians under the Israeli propaganda that they had a right to protect their country.

Who murdered Yitzhak Rabin and brought the peace process to an abrupt halt? A Palestinian? No. The murderer was an Israeli Jewish citizen from one of Israel’s extremist settlements who is till today a celebrated hero in Israel.

Jacobs pretends that Israeli terrorists don’t exist, but they do, more so than Palestinian terrorists.

He uses many ridiculous and vicious blood-libel stereotypes to disparage Palestinians, like his claim that Palestinians “give candy” to their children to celebrate the murder of Israelis. That is a disgusting lie.

He fails to point out that very few Israelis are ever brought to justice for their crimes when the victims are Christian or Muslims.

Robert Jacobs is an example of a disgusting new generation of pro-Israel and anti-peace extremists who use the “big lie” to portray themselves as “the victims” when in fact Israel is the oppressor targeting non-Jews as a part of a national plan to steal non-Jewish lands and deny non-Jewish rights.

Palestinians want peace. They have recognized Israel. They have agreed to a State that is less than 40 percent of the land of Historic Palestine. They support peace based on “Two-States.”

The truth is Israel’s governments have rejected the Two-State Solution. Increasingly, Israel’s government leaders have advocated racist and brutal policies to intimidate non-Jewish civilians in their control to flee the country and the occupation.

They have expanded settlements instead of stopping settlement growth or dismantling the illegal settlements. Jacobs fails to mention that Israelis in and out of the settlements teach their children hate, too. A hatred of a worse kind, by an oppressor against the oppressed.

The problem is not that Palestinians reject Israel right to exist. The problem is that Robert Jacobs, the Israeli government and the growing Israeli extremist movement reject the right of Palestine to exist.

What Robert Jacobs doesn’t want anyone to see is that Israel commits more acts of violence and killings than the Palestinians.

The fact that Palestinians will just not run in the face of this Israeli brutality is the real consternation that has provoked the racist commentary from Robert Jacobs that was published in the Seattle Times.

Jacobs concludes with this unbelievable hypocrisy that he violates through ad through in his ugly hate filled column: “Columns that misrepresent the facts on the ground do nothing to promote that change.”

newswire info
  • About
  • Latest Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israelisnipers shooting and killing hospital workers in Gaza - December 11, 2023
  • CAIR Condemns Israeli Executions of Wounded, Unarmed Palestinian in West Bank   - December 11, 2023
  • Arab and Muslim American voters face a “simple choice” between Biden’s inhumanity and Trump’s edgy politics - December 9, 2023
NVP: 27

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Editors Picks, Israel, Palestine & Jordan, Ray Hanania Tags:Israel, Palestine, peace, pro-Israel extremists, pro-Israel lies, Seattle Times Newspaper, two-states

Post navigation

Previous Post: Chemical weapons in Syria raise international concerns
Next Post: 10 years since Israel withdrew from Gaza on Israeli lies

Related Posts

  • Lawn mower and gas can
    Wives should start with lawns to understand husbands Commentary
  • AHRC to hold its Meet & Greet Reception Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 Activism
  • Amer Zahr runs as candidate for the Dearborn Schools 2024
    Amer Zahr runs for Dearborn Schools Nov. 5, 2024 American Arabs
  • J.B. Pritzker from his election campaign Facebook Page at UFCW union endorsement.
    Pritzker continues to ignore needs of Arab Americans violating his campaign promises American Arabs
  • Hollywood, Journalism stories and Vanunu Mordechai WhistleBlower update Arab World
  • Oral Language: Social exclusion & identity affirmation Abdennour Toumi

More Related Articles

Arabs ignored as Illinois Governor leaves office American Arabs
The Arab Street The Arab Daily News radio show and audio podcast at www.TheArabStreet.com Arab Radio: Ray Hanania and Ali Younes on Arabs running for Congress in 2020 American Arabs
Future of Islamic State: Not Merely Religion Arab World
New film explores challenges facing American Arabs American Arabs
Vanunu Mordechai’s 34th Year Captivity Continues at Facebook Arab World
Hirak 19 Algeria. Photo courtesy of Abdennour Toumi Algeria: “I Can See Clearly Now” Abdennour Toumi

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Ray Hanania's 4 times a week columns at https://RayHanania.com at Substack

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Netflix Mo Series courtesy of Wikipedia
    Mo Amer’s “Mo” on Netflix is more than just a great comedy series
    September 6, 2025
  • Photo courtesy of Journalist Abdennour Toumi
    France: Political Compromise vs Political Instability
    August 28, 2024
  • Zakia Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia
    Arabs eat Middle East food like they are making love
    June 27, 2024
  • Zwar lamb kabob and kufta with white and yellow rice
    Zwar ranked the Best Middle East restaurant in Chicagoland suburbs
    June 8, 2024
  • Pictured: Rahm Emanuel, Afghan activist Salman Aftab who was co-chair of the Iftar dinner, and several non-Arab Muslim leaders. Also pictured is Ald. Joe Moore. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania for Arab News
    Comprehensive look at the failings of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
    January 18, 2024

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

The Lightning Strike Radio Sun 8-10 AM

Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio Show
Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio Show
  • NEWS
  • Arab Center Washington DC to host Conference on Second Trump Administration Policies toward the Middle East
    October 9, 2025
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey
    October 8, 2025
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step
    October 5, 2025
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla
    October 2, 2025
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition
    October 2, 2025
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • NEWSWIRE
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey
    October 8, 2025
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step
    October 5, 2025
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla
    October 2, 2025
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition
    October 2, 2025

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2025 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme