Does Israel yet again ignore an anti-Israel Arab lie?

How many times should Israel defend itself against Arab lies and misrepresentations? The answer to this question is simple: every day Arabs lie about or misrepresent Israel, that is the day Israel must respond--forcibly.

But that's not how Israel behaves. Mostly, Israel ignores lies and misrepresentations by Arabs who call themselves 'Palestinians'; or, Israel's response is, at best, tepid. That's a mistake because the world will always see a weak--or tepid--response as an admission of guilt. A tepid response says, we have no response because we're guilty.

Israel recently saw yet another gross lie/misrepresentation by an Arab who calls himself 'Palestinian'--and we also saw that Israel's response was less than exciting. That response was wrong.

Here's what happened:

On June 21, 2020, an Arab driver used his car to ram into Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint near the eastern entrance to Jerusalem (near a place called, Abu Dis). That Arab driver used his car to drive directly into one soldier, sending that soldier flying backwards. The driver then exited his car. He was shot by other soldiers at the checkpoint (he died shortly after). The entire incident took less than 10 seconds.

The next day, Saeb Erekat, a top PLO ('Palestinian') official, called the killing of the Arab driver in this incident, an "execution" (here). Erekat claimed that the driver--who, it turns out, was his cousin--was "rushing through a checkpoint to pick up (or, alternatively, to bring) his mother and sister from a beauty salon in Bethlehem.” Erekat then added, "My cousin, the nephew of my wife, was executed, murdered in cold blood" (ibid). 

This is an incendiary accusation. It accuses Israelis of outright, unprovoked murder. For Arabs who call themselves, 'Palestinians', such an accusation has the potential to spark riots and attacks against Jews. Such words are unprofessional for a supposed "diplomat" to use. Such language is also irresponsible, since it could mean that both Jews and Arabs could be hurt by the consequences of those words.

What was Israel's response? Israeli officials said nothing. Instead, they released a video of the incident. You'll be able to see that video in a moment.

But first, keep in mind that Erekat had said that his cousin, the driver of the car, was rushing through
the checkpoint when he was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers.

But as you watch this video, you can judge for yourself. Was the driver simply "rushing through", or even attempting to "rush through" the checkpoint when he was shot--or, did that driver drive into the  checkpoint's narrowest point and then aggressively turn into the soldiers?

Watch the video, then you can tell me. 

The video is just 11 seconds long; watch carefully here.

If you watch the video several times, you can see the car driving forward into the checkpoint until it clearly and sharply turns into the soldiers--and it may even appear briefly to accelerate (after turning right) just before it strikes the soldier.

Does this driver look like he was driving through the checkpoint? I've watched this video several times, and I  don't think so. Instead, it appear that the driver goes straight, all right--but only up to where the soldiers were standing. Then, he turns the car hard into them.

Watch again, if you need.

So far as I am concerned, this video demonstrates that this driver was not attempting to continue straight (as Erekat claimed) through the checkpoint, but was rather driving into the checkpoint's narrowest point in order to turn into somebody. You can even see the car clearly move to its left, as far as it possibly can--no doubt to make its upcoming sharp right-turn as easy (and as accurate) as possible--before it turns sharply to its right.

Israel's response to this attack was, so far as I can tell, silence. Israel merely released the video with little-to-no comment. That 'release-with-no-comment' was a big, big mistake. 

Israel should have been as aggressive in its defense as Erekat was with his accusation. Israel should have reprimanded Erekat for lying and inciting--because the video evidence clearly does not support his accusation. The sharp turn of the car inside the narrowest point reveals the driver's actions to be aggressive, potentially deadly--and certainly not 'innocent'. 

Arabs who call themselves 'Palestinians' have been crying against Israel with a loud and clear voice for years. This tactic has won these Jew-hating Arabs many friends. People worldwide listen intently to cries and accusations.

Arabs who call themselves 'Palestinian' cry they are "victims" while Israel remains tepid in its response. From this, the world concludes that Israel's relative silence means it is indeed "guilty as charged". This is a pattern that's repeated every day, every week, every month of the year.

It's time Jews in Israel learn from their more sophisticated enemies. Yes, make no mistake. These Arab cries and accusations are far more sophisticated than Israel's tepid responses. 

The Arab-Israel conflict is, among other things, a war of words. It's a war of emotions--and many of the Arabs who hate Jews play to the world-as-audience the way an expert fiddler plays to his audience. 

Israel can no longer afford to allow Arab lies and misrepresentations to define the terms of the Arab-Israel conflict. But that is exactly what Israel has done--it cedes the ground to anti-Israel Arab accusations. It allows Arabs to define the Arab-Israel conflict as a war caused by Jewish oppression of Arabs, and not a war  caused by an Arab obsession to destroy Israel by any and all means necessary.  

Israel must change. It's time Israel strikes back in this propaganda war--hard and often. Playing meekly just doesn't work any more--if it ever did.

Israel should know by now that facts mean nothing in this bloody war. Never did. It's emotions that mean something. 

Perhaps someone should remind our Israeli leaders that it's the 'squeaky wheel' that gets oiled, not the silent wheel. It's the bawling mother and the angry diplomat that gets the world's attention, not the cool, cold-looking official.

Israel needs to wake up. Israel needs to speak up with anger when these accusations arise--with a loud and clear voice.

Otherwise, Israel loses.