War in our time is not only about taking land or gaining decisive victories on the battlefield. Indeed, recent experience in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf shows just how hard that is. But nations and movements at war now employ information or cognitive war to undermine the confidence of targeted populations in their governments, their causes, and reality itself. Cognitive warfare also serves to isolate, stigmatize, and incite hatred against enemies. A notable example is the intense campaign on the Left and the Right to corrupt the meaning of the term genocide, particularly about Israel and, to a lesser degree, Azerbaijan. The United States has been and is targeted in campaigns of vilification by the Soviet Union, Russia, China, and radical Islamists.

The accusation of an Israeli genocide against Palestinian Arabs is an old invention of Soviet and PLO propaganda, mainly to cover up the failures of Palestinian leadership during and after 1948 and the defeats of Moscow’s Arab proxies in genocidally motivated wars against Israel.  Nonetheless, the charge persists and is clearly intended to be a charge against all Jews, not just Israel or Israelis. This antisemitic narrative drowns out legitimate criticism of Israel in a chorus originating from Tehran and its proxies.

The tactic of preemptively accusing others of the crimes you have committed, are committing, or intend to commit is an old Soviet tactic, originally used to conceal the enormity of Stalin’s........

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