There is something deeply disturbing happening in the way the Israeli Palestinian conflict is being recorded for future generations. It goes far beyond criticism of Israel, disagreement with its government, or opposition to a military operation. We are witnessing a battle over memory itself, where history can be rewritten almost in real time and where the victims of atrocities can suddenly find themselves accused of committing versions of the very crimes inflicted upon them.

For the Jewish people, this should set off every possible alarm.

The manipulation of history did not begin on October 7, 2023. For decades, language surrounding Israel has gradually changed in ways that have transformed how millions of people understand the conflict.

Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, the word “Palestinian” was commonly used as a geographic description for people and institutions within British Mandatory Palestine. Jewish institutions openly carried the name. The Palestine Post eventually became The Jerusalem Post. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Jews living in Mandatory Palestine could be described as Palestinians while simultaneously identifying nationally and culturally as Jews.

Over the decades, however, the meaning of the word changed as a distinct Palestinian Arab national identity developed and became internationally established.

There is nothing unusual about national identities evolving. History is full of them.

The problem begins when a newer political identity is used to erase an older historical one.

That is increasingly what has happened to Jewish history.

Jews, whose historical, religious, archaeological and cultural connection to the Land of Israel stretches back thousands of years, are routinely described as foreign colonizers. Judea, the geographical name from which the word Jew itself........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)