The Struggle for Truth in the Age of Noise

Time To Stand Up For Israel is facing enormous difficulties in convincing Israel haters and pro Palestinian supporters that they truly stand on the wrong side of history. Anyone who spends time looking at international news outlets or scrolling through social media platforms can see how dominant the anti Israel narrative has become. The problem is not only hostility toward Israel. The deeper problem is that Israel and many of its supporters have failed to present the historical truth with the same clarity, determination, and evidence that once defined pro Israel advocacy.

I regret to say it, but Israel is failing in the field of public diplomacy. The country that excels in science, technology, defense, and intelligence has somehow lost ground in the battle for historical truth and narrative. Awareness is weak, misinformation spreads easily, and lies are rarely confronted with the same intensity that they once were.

This concerns me deeply because I grew up with a very different example.

In the late seventies we, my brother, me and my parents, lived in the Middle East. My parents were not politicians or diplomats, but they were deeply committed to the cause of Israel. They believed without hesitation that Israel stood on the right side of history. What always fascinated me later in life was their absolute certainty. They never doubted their support for Israel, even though their work for the Jewish state was not without risk. Their activities could even endanger their own children, my brother and me.

For years I wondered where that certainty came from. How could they be so sure that their cause was just?

Eventually I found the answer in the books and documents that filled our home. I remember opening cupboards and bookshelves full of files, newspaper clippings, photo books, reports, and historical publications. My parents had not formed their opinion through slogans or emotion. They had studied the facts.

One document in particular stood out.

The book was titled Now the Story Can Be Told. It focused on the PLO and was published in 1982 in Jerusalem by the World Zionist Organization Department of Information. The publication was edited by Eliyahu Tal with a preface by Eli Eyal.

This was not a commercial bestseller. It was an informational publication created during the war between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon. Its purpose was simple and powerful. It documented the history, structure, and operations of the PLO and exposed the wave of terrorism carried out by its factions during the nineteen sixties and seventies.

The book was relatively short, about eighty pages, but every page was filled with evidence. Photographs. Documents. Maps. Timelines. Testimonies.

It explained how the PLO was founded in 1964 with the declared goal of eliminating Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state. It described the rise of factions such as Fatah under the leadership of Yasser Arafat.

The book documented aircraft hijackings, embassy attacks, hostage crises, and assaults on civilians and diplomats. It also described how the PLO operated from bases in Jordan and Lebanon, and how its activities led to major regional confrontations including the violent conflict with the Jordanian government that resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan during the period known as Black September.

Perhaps the most striking part of the book was its explanation of how the PLO created what was effectively a state within a state in southern Lebanon during the nineteen seventies. From there, attacks against Israel were launched while the Lebanese government had little control over the area.

Even the design of the book made a statement. The cover contained symbolic bullet holes representing the victims of PLO violence. It was impossible to misunderstand the message.

This publication was clear. It was documented. It was factual. Anyone who read it could understand the historical reality.

And that leads me to an important question.

Why did Israel stop communicating like this?

Why did the country that once presented documents, archives, photographs, testimonies, and detailed evidence abandon this powerful method of telling its story?

Why are national archives not being opened to the world more aggressively? Why are original documents not being published in large public campaigns? Why are historical photographs, interviews, and testimonies not being presented to the global audience in the same clear and undeniable way?

Because one thing remains absolutely certain.

Truth cannot stay hidden forever.

There is an old saying that lies take the elevator while the truth takes the stairs. Lies travel faster. They spread easily and loudly. They dominate headlines and social media posts.

But the truth keeps climbing step by step.

Eventually it reaches the same floor.

And when it does, it is stronger than the lie that arrived earlier.

That is true for history. It is true for justice. And it is true for Israel.

The challenge today is not that Israel lacks the truth. The challenge is that the truth must once again be told with courage, clarity, and evidence.

Just as it was told before.

Because in the end, history does not belong to those who shout the loudest.

History belongs to those who are right.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)