Believable Lies Are Dangerous Lies

People often wonder how I could have been so gullible for so many years to believe the Palestinian narrative.

Because there is an ongoing struggle, I tried to learn more, to dig deeper. One of the sources I trusted for balanced, truthful information was Christian Peacemaker Teams. I have seen their pictures, listened to their testimonies, and got to know people who served with them. I had every reason to feel confident that I could trust them. And they told me that Palestinians are most definitely THE victims in this conflict.

Even after I saw the lies and inconsistencies, I didn’t want to believe that CPT was being dishonest. Perhaps they had only limited access to information beyond what they could see outside their front door. They work primarily in Hebron, so there is more conflict going on around them than in most other places. So I continued to give them the benefit of the doubt. Until yesterday.

I was shocked and dismayed when I saw their report about the IDF “breaking into homes” and forcibly arresting numerous men. They told of heavy Israeli aggression as innocent Palestinian lives were being turned upside down.

In their headline, there was no mention of a frantic and thorough search for 3 kidnapped teenagers. No mention of it being a suspected terrorist kidnapping, no sense of urgency to get the boys returned safely.

The only mention of hardships was of Palestinians in Hebron being harassed and worse by the IDF.

I pointed out they needed to include the reason for these house-to-house searches. I told them that context is vital. I also pointed out that the PA had told all shopkeepers to destroy their security camera footage for the purpose of hindering the search for suspects and for the boys.

What did they expect the response to be?

Below my comment, another woman commented she was praying for Palestinians. Christian Peacemaker Teams responded to her comment, while ignoring mine completely.

CPT screenshot1

In a subsequent post on IDF aggression in Hebron, they mentioned the “three missing settlers.”

Again I pointed out that these were 3 kidnapped teenagers. Again I was ignored.

CPT screenshot2

Some time ago, I wrote a piece called “Isn’t Lying to Tell the Truth Still Lying?” I’m now asking that question of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Isn’t lying to tell the truth still lying?

When pivotal facts are purposely left out, which end up flipping a story upside down, isn’t that lying? And if an organization as respected and trusted as CPT shamelessly lies to demonize Israel and to establish complete Palestinian innocence, how can I believe any of it?

They were a big reason I believed everything else. And now, they have as good as lied to my face.

A friend of mine told me recently that his friend, who volunteers for CPT, had just been handed a 10-year ban from Israel. He found it disturbing and a black mark for Israel.

I just think it makes sense.

At a time when an entire country is gripped with one hope – that Eyal, Gilad and Naftali will come home safely – it is cold and callous of CPT to not even mention their plight, and to refer to them by the highly-charged term “settlers”

Lying to tell the truth is still lying.

15 thoughts on “Believable Lies Are Dangerous Lies”

  1. I’ve long suspected that religious denominations and para-congregational ministries are in this decadent age magnets for people inclined to be kind to the cruel and cruel to the kind.

  2. i like christian groups like them, reminds us all that under every good christian, lies a filthy jew hating bastard

      1. Oh, really? A religion that was created only to defy the Jews and Judaism and the primary postulate of which is that the Jews have “killed” their “god”? It’s far more dangerous than Islam. Muslims have killed by many orders of magnitude less Jews than Christians did.

        That said, I consider that there is no “good” religion. Any religion is dangerous because it means to divide people and to brainwash them. It is the opium of the people.

        1. LindaMarieTodd

          Just to be clear, no where in the Christian bible are we taught that Jews “killed our god” Nowhere. I realize there are some who claim this but it is NOT part of actual Christian beliefs. Not at all. Christianity did not come into being in order to defy Jews and Judaism. Jesus, Himself, was born into a Jewish family and was raised as a Jew. He did not come to destroy the Law – he actually said that. The way that you have characterized Christianity only tells me that your understanding of it is solely based on rumour and not on an actual understanding of what Christianity is.
          This is a big reason that I take exception to Christian groups who vilify Israel and claim it is on grounds of our faith. It certainly is NOT. The Bible actually says that Jews are “the original branch” and Christians are “grafted in”. What does that mean? It certainly does NOT mean that Christianity was established to defy Jews or Judaism. Not even close.

          1. Yes, Jesus was a Jew, but it was not Jesus who founded and formed the Christian religion. Many saw it back then as a form of Judaism suitable for pagans. But as time progressed, and as the fraction of Jews among them declined, Christians became more and more hostile toward Jews as anti-Semitism is inherently rooted in Gentiles — that’s a law of nature, if you will.

            Now don’t say that if something isn’t written in the Bible then it against the dogm. Muslims make the same argument that Quran is not hostile to Jews. But we all know very well that Muslims don’t mainly follow the Quran, they mainly follow their preachers. The same is true for Christians. Ignorant masses (mainly illiterate because the Christian priests tried to prevent literacy among their brainwashed victims) followed what their priests were saying and not what was written in the Bible, which they couldn’t read anyway. This is how Christianity was formed.

            Now look how all these Christians are divided. There are Eastern and Western branches, each with many subdivisions inside them. People were massacred over some really important issues such as how they should position their fingers when making the sign of the cross. So if Christians are so merciless towards their own brethren, what should we expect from them towards non-Christians?

            No, we don’t need such religions.

            1. Jim from Iowa

              Hey, this is the Israelly Cool Comments Section. I wasn’t expecting a kind of Spanish Inquisition here.

    1. LindaMarieTodd

      Well, I consider myself to be a “good Christian”, and I am neither filthy, nor Jew hating, nor a bastard 🙁

      1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

        I think Walt needs to meet a few Christians I know. The problem with broad brushes is that they obscure important details.

  3. Norman_In_New_York

    They are not doing anything worse than what we have come to expect from the New York Times, the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, the Associated Press, Reuters, etc., etc., etc.

  4. Linda, I’ve been wondering what sort of translators the CPT use? or if they are assigned “handlers” by the Palestinian government?

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