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Israel Won the Information War
(Commentary) Abe Greenwald - On Jan. 8, a group of antisemites descended on a synagogue and Jewish school in Queens and chanted their loyalty oaths to Hamas. On Jan. 10, a man set fire to the oldest synagogue in Mississippi, the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson. The alleged arsonist told FBI agents he set the fire "due to the building's Jewish ties," and he described it as the "synagogue of Satan." Israel's war has been over for months, but American Jews are facing an increase in naked antisemitism. We've heard endlessly about how Israel failed to articulate its side of the story. The problem with that analysis lies in the story it assumes Israel should have articulated. But there's little point in the Jewish state trying to prove that it's innocent of all the calumnious charges against it. Because if Israel's devoted critics could be persuaded that it's a good and just country under continuous assault by barbaric fanatics, they would have been convinced by the decades of evidence showing just that. The vital information that Israel needed to disseminate was this: We will not perish. We are fiercer in battle than you could ever imagine, more accomplished in intelligence and operational execution than any nation in history, peerless in the art of war, and unapologetic in our commitment to survival. We don't bend to public opinion; we stop at nothing to defend our existence. And that message came across loud and clear. Too many in America spent two-plus years swallowing Hamas propaganda and publicly agonizing over Israel's actions to varying degrees. And while they explained and apologized, they also bent over backwards to give the Jew-haters the benefit of the doubt. We know exactly how that's worked out.