The Bigger the Lie

Here's the claim from the United with Jerusalem FB page:

Watch and feel the Israeli pride! 
Syrians have been suffering for years, and their only assistance comes from ISRAEL!

And of course this is accompanied by a photo of a pretty IDF lady solder, at least part of her, stacking some pudding. 

Here's the truth:

The international community has given billions of dollars to Syrians. As we see in this Guardian article: "The international community must raise billions of dollars more than last year to alleviate the unacceptable plight of Syrian refugees, David Cameron has warned prior to a London donor conference designed to address the consequences of the five-year Syrian civil war." https://www.theguardian.com/.../david-cameron-calls-for...

There are tons of organizations that have supported Syria with a lot more than pudding. Here are a few: 

Airlink 
CARE USA (link is external)
Concern USA (link is external)
Global Communities (link is external)
Global Giving (link is external)
Handicap International (link is external)
International Medical Corps (link is external)
International Orthodox Christian Charities (link is external)
International Rescue Committee (link is external)
Islamic Relief USA (link is external)
Life for Relief and Development (link is external)
Mercy – USA (link is external)
Mercy Corps (link is external)
Save The Children (link is external)
Oxfam America (link is external)
Relief International (link is external)
UNICEF (link is external)
UNHCR (link is external)
UNOCHA (link is external)
World Food Programme USA (WFP) (link is external)
World Vision (link is external)
Zakat Foundation of America

But more than all of that, Europe, particularly Germany has taken in anywhere from 100s of thousands to more than 1 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees! Now that's generosity.

If you click on the video triangle, you get a different web page that doesn't explain at all how Israel is their 'only' source of assistance. It just says Israel assists. And that's nice.

"For decades, Syrians have been taught that Israel is the evil enemy, but many have now learned that the Jewish state is their only source of assistance.

"Syrian civilians have been suffering for six years in that country’s ongoing civil war. Meanwhile, the IDF, through Operation Good Neighbor, has provided literally tons of food, medical supplies, baby formula and diapers, hygienic equipment, fuel…and more.

"In this video, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, IDF Chief of Staff, discusses Israel’s obligation to the victims of Syria’s civil war as neighbors and as Jews.

"By being a good neighbor and planting the seeds of friendship, the IDF is actually enhancing security."

OK, so it's more than pudding. But what happened to the claim that 'only' Israel is helping? That after all is the real hook in the posting.

Well, they never got to that. They assume likely that most people won't bother to read further. They just stop with the misleading ad, being warmed over by the yarn it spins.

That's an Alan Dershowitz style argument. You make a bold claim and then promise to prove it and then go and talk about something loosely related to the topic. So it sort of sounds like he's proving it even though he really isn't. But he's a Harvard professor so he must have proved it. I'm not just smart enough to see how.

How can one possibly claim that "their only assistance comes from ISRAEL!" It's amazingly delusional. But they do get away with it. Why?

The Zionist approach is to take the presumption of the moral superiority of the Jews, which applies to frum Jews, and apply it to secular Israel, and to take it to ridiculous levels. Only Israel is helping! We are so wonderful. 

And many Jews buy it. Are they that egotistical? Well, yes, they are. Jewish supremacy. Everybody knows we are the smartest and most moral. 

But I think there's something else at play, which is that Israel is the new reform Judaism. Reform Judaism died in America because it was empty and was not a living experience. Israel is a living experience. You can even move there. Talk about real. 

So the way to feel some morality and higher calling is to support the secular state. But that won't be satisfying if it merely is a secular state. It needs to be an uber moral state. Not only that, the only moral state. It's a perverse replacement for Torah Judaism being the one true religion. The state is the only good state. Nobody helps the Syrians but us.

I think people believe this because they want to believe it. They want to believe in something so they just pretend that it's all true, however ridiculous it might be. As either Hitler or Goebbels said (exact authorship is debated)  the more ridiculous the lie, the more people will believe it. It helps, I believe, to repeat the lie so often that people think it must be true. I hear it all the time.

Here to make it all even more ridiculous they present this as the generosity of the IDF, with even an officer getting involved. So while everybody says X, the truth is Y! The flip from one to the other creates a kind of false religious experience.

But this isn't just for fun. This illusion they create is the stuff that American political support for Israel is built on. Without that support, the world community would slap economic sanctions on Israel that would produce a Palestinian state in a few weeks. 

American support of Israel is influential Jewish American support of Israel. And that ties into the Israeli lobby and all its devices for winning over Congress - intimidation mostly. It wouldn't work if they didn't win over the loyalty from secular American Jews who want to believe in something.

So this is pretty serious business, spinning these tales. There are two of them that work together. One is everybody wants to kill us. The other is we are wonderful even when they want to kill us. We are witnessing both at once here because the IDF is helping Syrians, our sworn enemies.

It's a lie that's repeated often. When I call it a lie, I don't mean Israel never helps anybody. But to exaggerate the help, steal credit from everyone else, and deny our crimes -- that's the lie. And the ridiculous story is what American Jews cling to. 

And by the way, you never are allowed to question it as I just did. Anybody who questions it is bad and any facts he uses are propaganda even in this case where the listings of world charities giving to Syria are not offered in the context of the Israel-Palestine issue. Anything that exposes the myths has to be propaganda by definition. Why is that? Because the State of Israel is a replacement for religion and that's how people respond when you question their religion.