. . . Much of what was told to me during my time in Palestine was patently false. But the most harmful and untrue narratives didn’t come from Palestinians: They came from the Western leftists pretending to adopt their cause.

I went on tours and volunteered with Westerners who blithely dismissed murders of Israeli “settlers” in the nearby neighborhood as mere attention-seeking. They glossed over Palestinians running at IDF soldiers in vicious knife attacks, implying it was understandable or at least not that notable . . . .

In the wake of Oct. 7, the left’s response makes much more sense when you consider the falsehoods they choose to believe about Israeli history. Unpacking those false narratives exposes the big lie at the heart of the left’s view of Israel and Jewish people more broadly. 

The primary big lie is that Israel “stole” a country and randomly appeared out of nowhere to persecute innocent Arabs . . . .

The Federalist