Poor David Harsanyi, mindful that he'll have a hard time proving
that Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar lied, he avoided using that word. Instead, he
used the word “untrue.” That's because you can say something that's contrary to
the truth believing it is true … and that's not a lie. But when you say
something that's contrary to the truth knowing it isn't so, you tell a lie.
That's the difference between telling an untruth and telling a lie.
So, Harsanyi writes an article about the two Muslim Congresswomen,
carefully avoiding the use of words that sound hurtful or insulting … and
submits the piece to the editor who chooses a title for it. The thing gets
published, and horror of horror, what does Harsanyi see? He sees a title that
says: “Don't fall For Omar And Tlaib's Lies About Israel.” The editor made it sound like David Harsanyi is accusing the women of lying. He feels like
being stabbed in the back by his own editor.
The article was published on August 19, 2019 in The Federalist. It
is the writer's commentary on the press conference that the two women held on
that day concerning the controversy that erupted when their trip to
Palestine/Israel was canceled. It is clear that Harsanyi's objective in writing
the article has been to minimize the damaging effect that the conference had on
Israel's image.
David Harsanyi set out to show that what the women announced they
were trying to accomplish, was at odds with what they actually did to bring
about that accomplishment. To strengthen his argument, Harsanyi told of an
alternative path that the congresswomen could have taken to succeed in what
they were doing –– but a path they did not take. Here is how the writer put it
all together:
“Omar and Tlaib could easily have joined a group of 70 of their
colleagues and met with Israeli officials––if it's supposedly part of their
duties, as they assert, to learn about the situation on the ground. Instead,
they planned a separate trip to Palestine with an itinerary designed by
Miftah”.
What's bizarre about this suggestion is that it mirrors the
bizarre nature of the situation which Harsanyi is trying to whitewash. To
understand this part, we need to acquaint ourselves with the situation on the
ground in Palestine, which the two women said they wanted to see and assess for
themselves. What they would have seen is a Jewish army of occupation that is
armed to the teeth, in total and absolute control of a Palestinian population
that is totally and absolutely disarmed.
For decades, America, which has been arming the Jews and disarming
the Palestinians, has had Jewish AIPAC organize trips for America's legislators
to go to Israel on guided tours aimed at brainwashing the Americans into
believing they must continue arming the Jews and disarming the Palestinians to
protect America and save the world.
And so, the two Congresswomen, one of whom is of Palestinian
origin, said enough of this nonsense. They decided to start working on
establishing some equity in this horrible situation by injecting a modicum of
balance into it. Upon learning of this plan, the entire mob of Jewish
bellyaching punditry, including David Harsanyi, responded by erupting in the
usual ritual of lamentations and accusations of antisemitism.
Like Harsanyi, those pundits relied on the use of the one-word,
one-term, one-expression and one-liner to throw accusations willy-nilly at
their opponents––accusations of sin they did not try to prove because they had
no proof that would back their accusations. What these people sought to do was
pin on their opponents the accusation of being Holocaust deniers, anti-Semites
or terrorists who are out to destroy Israel economically via the promotion of
BDS, and the use of kites to battle against Israel's F-16 warplanes and
helicopter gunships. As well, the Jews accused their opponents of a relentless
campaign to delegitimize Israel by reviving old tropes, they said were
effective at hurting the Jews in the past.
And of course, the corollary to denigrating the other side is to
praise one's own side. And that's what David Harsanyi has attempted to do while
badmouthing Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. But in so doing, he repeated one of
the smart Aleck sayings that the Israeli leaders are famous for. This one had come
out the mouth of Golda Meier, doing considerable damage to Israel's image
instead of enhancing it.
In fact, David Harsanyi seems aware there was something louche
about that locution; the reason why he did not quote Golda Meier directly but
only paraphrased her. This is what he wrote: “To paraphrase (perhaps) Golda
Meir, the fact that Tlaib is more invested in hating Jews than seeing her
grandmother...” What Golda Meier made reference to, was Palestinians hating the
Jews more than they loved their children.
Meier stirred a worldwide uproar when she said those words because
mixing Meier and children at the time, was like mixing a Weinstein-Epstein pair
with a harem of young women. What happened was that Israel was going through a
difficult economic period and Meier desperately wanted to see an increase in
the number of tourists visiting Israel.
She popped in front of a camera and appealed to the world to come
visit Israel, promising that the place had much to offer to tourists, and
specifying: including very attractive young women. This coincided with a report
that had unveiled a situation never seen before in Israel. It was the
prostitution of young and attractive Jewish women from Eastern Europe that had
gone to Israel believing it was a heavenly oasis full of milk and honey.