Reports from last week's attack on the Temple Mount prove this systematic distortion.
By IDIT DRUYANBorder Police at sight of terror attack on Temple Mount July 14(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
As a communications adviser, when I wake up in the morning and have dozens of push messages on my smartphone, I know that something tragic has happened, a tragedy that affected the State of Israel.I woke up last Friday to a black morning.A shooting terrorist attack took place on the Temple Mount, the holiest place for Jews. The terrorists were Israeli-Arab citizens from Umm el-Fahm who murdered two Israeli Druse police officers. One of the officers was a new father to a three-week-old baby boy.What is absurd is that in Israel, Arab society is divided into three segments: Christian, Muslim and Druse. The irony is that the Druse enlist in the IDF and fight in wars that are waged against Israel, and the police-officer victims were protecting the holiest site to the Jewish people. There are those in the Muslim sector who would slaughter members of their own sector as well as members of the Jewish sector.In the Israeli media, there were reports about the terrorist attack, about the police officers who were murdered, the desecration of the holy Temple Mount and the ironies of the attack. In the Palestinian media, the reporting was about Israel’s occupation, which allegedly denies Muslims access to their Friday prayers on the Temple Mount.While Israelis were praying for the well-being of the police officers before it was announced that they had died, the Palestinians were busy disseminating lies and false news in both English and Hebrew.They released video clips chronicling the tale of the three “innocent” Arabs killed by Israeli police fire. There was not a word about the two young police officers who were shot in cold blood by three young men from Umm el-Fahm.There are many examples of misinformation to be found. I’ll present two such examples.Immediately after the terrorist attack, photos were posted on the website of the Shehab News Agency, with a description stating: “Closures in the vicinity of the blessed Aksa Mosque and the Old City following the death of three innocent young men.” What perverse distortion of reality describes terrorist killers as “innocent young men”? Another example is taken from the “Felesteen” Facebook page, which portrays itself as a media/news company. A photo on the page showed dozens of police officers who arrived to disperse a demonstration by a single Muslim man who was praying on his carpet. It said: “Jerusalem residents will hold Friday prayers on the streets of the city after the decision of the occupation to prevent prayer for the first time since 1969.”These are prime examples of what we need to fight against – and there are possibly tens of thousands of these fake-news posts.If the world wants to understand how terrorism feeds and sustains itself and how hundreds and perhaps millions of Muslims and Palestinians are incited in the region and around the world, it should look at these examples. Unfortunately, there are thousands more that demonstrate the gasoline that news agencies with an agenda are pouring onto the flames of Palestinian and world terrorism.Despite all of these efforts, the State of Israel is standing and will continue to stand. The State of Israel is flourishing economically, tourism continues to grow, our security is strong and we are advancing in many other fields. It is a state that has learned to defend itself, and Israeli society has developed social immunity to the campaigns of well planned incitement aimed at millions of people. These campaigns are evolving and getting greater exposure.Fake news? Come to Israel and see who has been creating false propaganda to turn innocent people into murderers by executing operations aimed at the murder of innocent Israeli civilians.You want to help Israel? Disseminate the truth and open the eyes of others. Convince them to visit Israel or join an organization that works for its benefit. Only then will we have the potential for permanent success in fighting these dangerous campaigns of lies.The writer is a senior adviser to the deputy defense minister
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