Propagation of Ignorance

The plight of the "Palestinian people" has become quite the cause célèbre since the advent of the Internet and the rapid spread of "information", but much of that information is erroneous and is picked up and spread like a virus. Worse is the fact that allegedly intelligent people fall victim to the same propaganda and transmit it to others who then believe that they are informed. While it may be true that they are "armed with information" and ready to debate, the sad fact is that they are frequently loaded with blanks and the information is false.

A case in point is the recent idiocy uttered by veteran White House Press Pool reporter, Helen Thomas. Questioned by a rabbi at a White House Jewish heritage event, Thomas displayed her ignorance of the Jewish/Palestinian affair. See the video below:



Certainly, Thomas is entitled to her opinion, but she is a journalist and as such, should shoulder some responsibility for truth. Hard as it may be to believe, there are people who rely on her for their news, and they no doubt believe that Palestine is Arab land stolen by the Jews. A simple perusal of history easily dismisses such a notion.

Considering that this is the Jewish year of 5,770, that places the first Jews on Earth at 3,760 years before the arrival of Christ, and roughly 4,300 years before Muhammed. The Jews had a temple in Palestine more than 500 years before Christ that was destroyed by the Babylonians. It was rebuilt in 516 BC. The Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and there were still no Arabs or Muslims there. (Muslims wouldn't even exist for another 600 years anyway.)

In fact, "Palestine" is a misnomer. The Roman name for the land Israel calls home was Judea (Iudaea). Palestine was derived from "Plesheth", which translated into English as "Philistine" and referred to the nomadic tendencies of the Philistines who, ironically, were neither Arab nor Semite, but most closely related to the Greeks.

Furthermore, in 312 AD, when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, Jerusalem became a center for Christian pilgrimage. Someone tell Helen Thomas that Christians have more of a claim on Israel than the fictional "Palestinians" do. As for the name, it can be traced back to the Roman Emperor Hadrian who, after suppressing the Bar Kokba revolt between 132 and 135 AD, sought to wipe out the identity of the Jews and changed "Judea" to "Palastina". Despite this, Jews remained to tend their land, and still no Arabs expressed any interest in the region.

So after all of this, and with the modern "Palestinians" (whoever they are) claiming victim hood and injustice, liberal dupes like Helen Thomas regurgitate the lie that the Jews are occupiers and squatters who should leave and give their country to the poor Palestinians, who are really exiles from their native Arab lands that surround Israel.