Jonathan - first of all I want to thank you for a reasoned response. As you may imagine, I get endless trolls spitting vitriol. You seem genuinely curious to understand more, so I want to answer you properly.
This may be a bit long, but bear with me, since there is a lot to unpack. I will start at the high level and then drill down to your questions...
I will start by saying that am 100% convinced that every person on the planet has been exposed to a massive global web of misinformation designed to delegitimize Israel.
Over the last six months there has been a concentrated and deliberate effort to discredit Israel.
Note the Microsoft article. This to me is incredibly credible... Global MNCs have endless protocols for protecting themselves, multiple legal entities to review every word, and massive compliance departments. For Microsoft to publish something like this, publicly, on this topic and at this time, indicates to me it was heavily scrutinized. The sockpuppet stuff is truly worrying.
Prior to the last six months there has been concentrated and deliberate efforts, going on for years, to delegitimize Israel from the bottom up:
https://www.kasowitz.com/media/unxcnvpo/harvard-complaint.pdf
https://www.thefp.com/p/californians-for-justice-paid-1400-highschoolers
What this has created is exactly what you wrote: "Israel lies all the time". I have brilliant friends in the US who have all taken one-sided views simply because they have been exposed to deliberate efforts like this for years. The Iran-sponsored Hate-On-Israel and Hate-On-Jews campaign works.
The reality is that every country lies all the time, but people have been trained into believing that only Israeli exclusively lies. This creates the situation where anything that questions the prevailing far left narrative is seen as "Propaganda".
The problem is so widespread that even when I cite actual Palestinians from actual Gaza, people think it is "propaganda".
Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BKtgNzvpSgc
This is John Spencer, the leading global expert on Urban Warfare from Westpoint. Here he goes on record giving his take as literally the leading global expert. And yet, readers think he is "funded by Israel", which any rational mind should easily dismiss.
This has been going on for decades, to the point where mainstream media is on board as well:
As for UNWRA - UN Watch has been sounding the alarm on them for DECADES:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/28/world/middleeast/gaza-unrwa-hamas-israel.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly8bGudP7uk
Note the video is from the IDF, and therefore you will see tons of comments about about the Propaganda issue above.
As for the far left part - I am waiting to see proof from their end. I am waiting to see mass voices from the far left, especially the Women's Rights and LGBTQ community, actually make the correct moral argument. I agree with you that it is not fair to bucket everybody into one group, but I have not yet seen rational voices from the far left who are able to (correctly IMO) understand the nuance of the situation.
I will add two things on a personal note about the "Israel lies" bit.
First, there is a BIG difference between Netanyahu and the IDF. Netanyahu has been lying to Israelis for decades, we know this. But my gut is to actually trust what the IDF is saying right now, and so should you. The reason is that Israel has EVERYTHING to lose by being called out. Hamas has nothing to lose by being called out.
Secondly, I write this not because I am in Israel or Jewish, but because I am human and have two eyes. I stood on the hill 3 weeks ago overlooking the massive amounts of aid that was brought in and just sat there waiting for Hamas to pilfer it. The IDF inspects every single piece of aid going in to GAZA - WITH US OVERSIGHT - and issues a daily report to the US of the amount and content of aid. And yet people in the US still say "Israel is blocking aid".
And this is because they have been trained to believe everything Israel does is a Lie.
Apologies for monologuing, but I greatly respect and appreciate your curiosity, so thank you for hearing me out.
Keep reading, keep exploring. It is extremely complex. But be very cognizant of what you are reading and be skeptical. Every conflict has at least two sides, and reaching some form of conclusion requires understanding both sides.
I recommend this as well:
https://oakieslostwords.blogspot.com/2024/03/privilege-in-disneyland-of-hate.html
