The battle over narratives: How Israel can fight misinformation - opinion

SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 11:31Israel and the West are facing cruel enemies, Iran and Islamist terrorism, to begin with. The concept of “narrative” is just as dangerous.For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.orgNarrative has taken the place of facts and truth in discussions of world events. That’s why seemingly intelligent people can parade around in keffiyehs and espouse causes that are the opposite of what they believe, like “Queers for Palestine.”The Western narrative dictates that Israel is a colonialist occupier, Palestinians are helpless victims, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the only one that matters, because all-powerful, diabolical Jews are responsible for this and everything else that’s wrong with the world.As a result of widespread acceptance of this narrative, aided by Israeli government missteps, Israel has lost much of its support in the Western world. That’s how dangerous it is.A protester climbs a traffic light pole during a pro-Palestine demonstration outside Downing Street in London, Britain, June 12, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/HENRY NICHOLLS)Facts ignored in favor of narrativeHere are some well-documented facts that are irrelevant today because they don’t fit the narrative:• There is not, and never has been, an Israeli-led genocide in Gaza.• There has never been mass starvation in Gaza.• Homosexuality is illegal and immoral in much of the Arab world, and in Gaza, gay people have been thrown from apartment-building roofs.• Israel has facilitated the shipment of enough food into Gaza to satisfy the requirements of everyone there, an otherwise unheard-of humanitarian gesture during an active war.• The ratio of combatant deaths to civilian deaths during three years of war in Gaza is remarkably close to 1:1, in contrast to, say, the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it was about eight civilian deaths per combatant death.We could go on and on, but time, space, and attention spans are limited these days. That won’t stop me from reminiscing, though.When I started my career in journalism back in the middle of last century, the goal of the profession was to find the facts, write about them, and explain them. It didn’t matter which way the facts pointed or who was helped or harmed. The facts dictated the rest of the story.Old grouch that I am, I still follow that set of rules. A friend who has been reading my articles for years once observed, “I can’t tell whether you’re right or left.” I suppose he was expecting me to clear that up. Instead, I said, “Thank you.”Such attempts at objectivity are mostly gone. Now you start with the narrative you believe in and gather up all the facts that support it, even if the “facts” aren’t facts at all. The narrative rules. That’s why the list of actual facts above is irrelevant.Once-proud news outlets pander to their niche audiences, openly “advocating” for the chosen narrative. Politicians have been doing that forever, but now it has become extreme.Harris's pandering to Iranian student symbol of narrative acceptance Who can forget how a candidate for US president handled an Iranian exchange student who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide”?The candidate should have rejected the Iranian’s charges as lies and noted what would happen to an American who criticized an Iranian official in Iran.“You are a guest in my country,” she should have said. “Just go back home and try that.”But she didn’t. In full pandering mode, she waffled, “Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard.”“Your truth” means narrative, not truth. There’s an old joke that goes, “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts.” Now it’s no joke, it’s reality.So there’s little point in spending your days replying to posts on what I call “antisocial media,” providing facts to counter the obvious, odious fabrications that flood the screen. Reality’s goalposts just aren’t where they used to be.Back in the old days, most people listened to experienced professionals and experts. Today, they turn to “influencers.”And how do you become an influencer? A university degree? Decades of experience in your field? Uh, no. You become an influencer simply by making yourself popular, by any means necessary.Professional tennis players complained that influencers disrupted a top international tournament by making noise and flashing lights while trying to get themselves photographed, rather than watching the matches. An 8-year-old can become an influencer if her parents, agents, or whoever can get her video clips to go “viral.” Remember when the term “viral” was associated with danger? Turns out it still is, in a different context.All this is linked directly to antisocial media. It allows, even encourages, people to latch onto a narrative and then build a closed circle of like-minded, or unhinged, followers. It leads to exchanges like this:“I am a certified immunologist with a Ph.D. and 25 years of experience in treating people with infectious diseases, along with extensive research and published papers in the field, and it’s clear that the COVID and flu vaccines are beneficial and effective.”Reply by random reader: “Bullsh*t.”So this is the place where I push my long, white beard off the keyboard and pine for a return to the good ol’ days, adding, while I’m at it, “Get off my lawn.”But no. It’s a new world, and the old one isn’t coming back. Instead of chasing the kids off our lawn, we need to learn how they do what they do, and do it better.Despite the narrative that Jews control everything with their unlimited resources and devilish practices, the fact is that Israel and the Jews of the world are vastly outnumbered and outspent by the forces promoting the current narrative.I’ve written here about Qatar and its multibillion-dollar campaign to influence opinion in the US. It’s likely that a generation is lost, but it’s time to start working on the next one.Narratives that may counter current slanderThat means constructing multiple narratives to counter the current slander. Here are some options:• The story of Oded Lifshitz, who lived in a village next to Gaza and drove Gazans from the border to Israeli hospitals as a pro-peace volunteer. He was 84 when Palestinian terrorists kidnapped him from his home on Oct. 7, 2023, and dragged him to Gaza, where he died.• Just in the past year, Israeli researchers have come up with promising possible cures for several forms of cancer.• Israel is often among the first to respond with a rescue team when there’s a natural disaster anywhere in the world, even helping nations that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.That’s a start. How do we turn those into narratives? That’s above, or below, my pay grade.First, we need the decision to do it, instead of wasting all our time and money providing facts to counter the lies. Whether we like it or not, this is a post-fact era.Even so, what’s the difference between Israel’s potential narratives and the current crop of pro-Islamist ones?Israel’s are true.Mark Lavie has been covering the Middle East for major news outlets since 1972. His second book, Why Are We Still Afraid?, which follows his five-decade career and comes to a surprising conclusion, is available on Amazon.Follow us on Google