Antisemites and their collaborators refuse to acknowledge that the Jews are not liars and do not control the media.
On Oct. 7, the Palestinian terror group Hamas committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Two of the most prominent and deplorable reactions to the slaughter have been the antisemitic denial of this crime and widespread media bias against Israel.
A careful analysis of both phenomena exposes the absurdity of two antisemitic myths: That “all Jews are liars and are not to be trusted” and that “Jews control the world media.”
Denial of the crimes seems to stem from the antisemites’ need to disbelieve anything Jews say. They see Jews as “liars” or “dishonest people” who constantly plot to manipulate the world. To believe in the Oct. 7 atrocities would require accepting the humanity and vulnerability of Jews. This, antisemites refuse to do.
Such antisemitic views are frequently expressed in Islamic scriptures, which makes Jew-hatred widespread in Muslim communities. For example, some hadith—statements by Islam’s prophet Muhammad—refer to Jews as “liars.” Muhammad’s anger at Jews was mainly caused by the fact that Jews refused to convert to Islam. Once this became clear, Muhammad resorted to violence. In the seventh century, two Jewish tribes from Medina (the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Nadir) were expelled and all male members of a third Jewish tribe (the Banu Qurayzah) were murdered. The Jewish women and children of that tribe were sold into slavery.