Across the Middle East, children are taught to call the founding of Israel on May 14, 1948, “the Nakba,” or catastrophe. Their teachers depict Jews as violent usurpers of the land. Today in the United States and other western nations, educators are using those same lies on our children. Now the lies that generate hate in the Middle East are generating the same kind of hate here.

Al Jazeera is a Qatar-based, global, anti-Semitic, and anti-American news conglomerate. It says, “Every year on May 15, Palestinians around the world mark the Nakba, or catastrophe, referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948…. Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands.”

Dictionary.com defines “ethnic cleansing” as, “the elimination of an unwanted ethnic group.” Today, with well over 3 million Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria, 2 million living in Gaza, and another 2 million living in Israel proper, there was clearly never an “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.

Al Jazeera also says, “Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands.” That accusation is repeated often, even by the United Nations. In an article called, “The Question of Palestine,” the United Nations affirms that the birth of modern Israel was a “catastrophe.” “Before the Nakba,” the UN article contends, “Palestine was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.” In other words, they were one, big happy family until the formation of Israel. 

The UN article says that in 1947, “Jewish militias launched attacks against Palestinian villages forcing thousands to flee. The situation escalated into a full-blown war in 1948, with the end of the British Mandate and the departure of British forces, the declaration of independence of the State of Israel and the entry of neighboring Arab armies. The newly established Israeli forces launched a major offensive. The result of the war was the permanent displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population.”

Notice the propagandistic wording, pretending that Jewish aggressors launched “attacks against Palestinian villages.” The word “villages” carries the connotations of peaceful, benign, and defenseless. But obvious Arab aggression is either not mentioned at all, or heavily downplayed. They list the “entry of neighboring Arab armies” as one of many reasons war broke out in 1948. But that invasion triggered the war. When Arab armies invaded their land, Israel fought back.

The war displaced many Palestinians, but not because Israel kicked them out. Arab leaders removed them, promising that if they left, they could shortly return and share in the plunder after Israel’s defeat. This historical fact was recently admitted by Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Speaking for the Palestinians, Abbas said, “If you remember that in 1948, when the ‘Nakba,’ or catastrophe, took place, we weren’t a party to it. We were taken out, and we were told, after a week we will return you.”

Editor’s Desk: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Hal Lindsey, in his article, “The Ancient Blame Game: Hating Jews Goes Back Further Than The Word Jew,” wrote:

The Bible repeatedly condemns lying, especially lies meant to harm others. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 talks about humanity becoming “unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous.” Verse one of that chapter says it will get worse as the last days approach.

That’s bad news for the Jewish people because for centuries they have already suffered as the victims of “malicious gossip.” That’s the kind of lying meant to harm or destroy. People blamed Jews for wars and for economic downturns. The losers of wars made Jews their scapegoats — blaming them for selling secrets and other traitorous activities. Anti-capitalists often blame Jews for the rise of capitalism. But just as often, capitalists blame Jews for the rise of socialism.

I could go on and on listing the things they’ve been blamed for, including the Bubonic Plague, earthquakes, floods, and all kinds of natural disasters. Hating Jews goes back further than the word Jew. In ancient times, the Hebrews were hated because they refused to adopt pagan religions or adapt their own beliefs to those of their captors or conquerors. It’s hard to “adapt” belief in the one true God to a belief in a pantheon of gods.

The propensity to blame Jews for all manner of evil led to the Holocaust, but it did not stop there. It is alive and well.