What happens when untruths go unchallenged

A month on from the Bondi attacks, a hard truth remains: antisemitism is nourished when untruths about Israel go unchallenged. Much of this misinformation spreads easily because many who consider themselves neutral remain uninformed out of complacency or the belief that the issue is simply too complex to engage with. Others fall into false moral equivalence that blurs the line between atrocity and response.

The level of misunderstanding is often astonishing. Joe Rogan recently guessed that there are “500 million Jews in the world”. The real number is 15 million.

In this environment, where algorithms deliver information designed to provoke rather than clarify, ignorance, to paraphrase Joseph Goebbels, is what allows a lie repeated often enough to become accepted as truth. In this sea of disinformation, some facts remain beyond dispute. These are not matters of interpretation or ideology, but facts that anyone engaging in this debate should understand.

Fact one: denying the Jewish connection to Zionism is antisemitic 

For most Jews, Zionism is an expression of identity and faith. The Jewish people have long understood themselves as a nation with an enduring historical, cultural, and spiritual connection to the land of Israel. Nationally, Israel is to many Jews what Armenia is to Armenians or Greece to Greeks. Religiously, the longing for Zion is woven into Jewish prayers, holidays, and scripture much as Mecca anchors Islam and Rome anchors Catholicism.