Myths database
Welcome to the Decolonize Palestine myths database. Here you will find a continuously updated list of some of the most prominent myths and talking-points related to the Palestinian question, as well as their debunking.
We stress that these articles are not designed to teach you how to argue or manipulate your audience. That dubious distinction is relegated to Hasbara fellowships and manuals. Instead, we believe that light is the best disinfectant, and that when taken as a whole the historical record speaks for itself.
While we provide debunkings for these myths and talking points, it should be understood that they cannot account for everything. This is why we also provide a “further reading” section at the end of each article, so that you can explore these topics in a more free and comprehensive manner.
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Myth: Palestinians sabotaged the “peace process”
The idea that Palestinians sabotaged the "peace process" by rejecting Israeli offers is propaganda designed to stop you from asking about the content of said offers.
Myth: The United Nations created Israel
The 1947 partition plan did not establish Israel, neither did it confer any such legitimacy because it was simply outside the UN's power to do so. Israel was established through changing facts on the ground, and sweeping ethnic cleansing campaigns.
Myth: The two-state solution is the only way forward
The two-state solution is not the only way forward for the Palestinian question. The moment we stop putting Israel's demographic obsessions first, other options become much more reasonable and just.
Myth: Had Palestinians accepted the 1947 partition plan, they would have had a state by now
The argument that Palestinians would have had a state had they accepted the 1947 partition plan shows a complete disregard for history, and attempts to shift blame onto the natives for refusing their colonization.
Myth: Israel has always sought peace
The narrative of an Israel constantly offering its hand out in peace is a revisionist fantasy. Time and time again, Israel chose to reject regional peace offers with the goal of maximizing its territorial expansion.
Myth: Israel is a democracy
Despite its attempts to imply moral superiority by clinging to flimsy, nominally democratic window-dressing, Israel is actually an ethnocracy rather than a democracy.
Myth: Israel holds itself responsible for its human rights violations
A crucial cornerstone of Israel's international propaganda efforts is the projection of an image of morality for its army. Unfortunately for Israel, this is just as baseless as their other propaganda claims.
Myth: All Israelis are equal
Israel's existence as a colonial ethnocracy precludes any possibility for creating an equal society. While useful as a propaganda claim, it falls apart under the most cursory of research.
Myth: Israel is not an Apartheid state
The designation of "Apartheid" has become associated with Israel, and for good reason. Israel's policies fall neatly under the Rome statute definition of Apartheid.
Myth: Israel was created as penance for the Holocaust
The misconception that Israel was created as penance for the Holocaust is the result of a lack of knowledge regarding the Zionist movement, the international community, and a transference of Europe's guilt onto the Palestinians.
Myth: Palestinians used watermelons as symbols during first Intifada
Did Palestinians really use watermelons as a symbol during the Intifada?
Myth: Netanyahu [or any other Israeli politician] is/was the problem
It is often claimed by Israel apologists that certain politicians, such as Netanyahu, are the problem with Israeli politics today. This claim completely ignores how Israeli politics have always been fascist and colonial towards Palestinians.
Myth: You can’t be antisemitic if you support Israel
Declaring your support for Israel has become a convenient way for antisemites to whitewash their reputation. Israel sees no problem in allying itself with these reactionary antisemitic forces as long as they support its policies.
Myth: Israel lost its “soul” after the 1967 occupation
Appealing to a mythical, "moral" version of Israel that never existed is just a way for liberal Zionists to grapple with their cognitive dissonance, denial and complicity.
Myth: Israel is defending itself
What does it mean for a settler-colony to defend itself from the people it is colonizing? How is Israel defending itself when its existence depends on violence against Palestinians?
Myth: The IDF is the most “moral army in the world”
Projecting an image of morality and righteousness has always been important to Israeli propaganda efforts. Unfortunately for Israel, this has little basis in reality.
Myth: Palestinians fake Israeli atrocities, hire crisis actors (Pallywood)
With the advent of modern communications technology, it has become easier than ever to document Israeli war crimes. Consequently, hasbarists have adapted to this by claiming any footage that surfaces is fake (Pallywood).
Myth: Palestinians use human shields
Claiming Palestinians use their own people as human shields aims to dehumanize them and justify Israeli killings. While there is no evidence that Palestinians practice this, there are mountains of evidence of the IDF doing so.
Myth: Palestinian refugees are unique
The Palestinian refugees resulting from Zionist ethnic cleansing campaigns remain a cornerstone of the Palestinian question. Naturally, this has opened them up to attacks on their very existence.
Myth: The Palestinian Authority subsidizes “terrorism” (pay to slay)
Smearing Palestinians as bloodthirsty murderers is the norm for Israeli propaganda efforts. Attempting to frame family support for prisoners in military courts and prisons as bounties (pay to slay) for murdering Israelis is yet another manifestation of this smear.
Myth: The Mufti helped inspire the Holocaust
In the endless quest to demonize Palestinians and justify their ethnic cleansing, Zionists have resorted to Holocaust denial by blaming a Palestinian Mufti for the Holocaust.
Myth: There is a media bias against Israel
In a media environment where neutrality is mistaken for objectivity, any truly objective reporting on Israeli violations is seen as a biased attack.
Myth: Israel made the desert bloom
In reality, the amount of desert actually increased since the establishment of Israel, and Palestinian farms taken-over during the Nakba form the vast majority of Israeli agriculture today.
Myth: The Gaza Strip is no longer occupied
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was a mere reconfiguration of its occupation, as it maintained effective control of the strip even without a physical presence. It also did not 'leave' the strip out of some peaceful gesture, but was pushed out by Palestinian resistance.
Myth: “From the river to the sea” is a call to genocide
It is often claimed that "From the river to the sea" is tantamount to a call for genocide. This false framing is typical in settler societies who see native liberation as their annihilation.
Myth: Palestinian Christians are leaving due to Palestinian Muslims and the PA
Protecting the rights of various religious and ethnic groups is a staple of Israeli propaganda. Unfortunately for Israel, this is belied by history and refugee camps full of Palestinians of every stripe. including Palestinian Christians.
Myth: Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism
The false conflation of Zionism with Judaism aims to shut down discussion, and silence Palestinians speaking up about their own suffering and frame them as racists.
Myth: There was no ethnic cleansing because the population increased
Claiming that a population increase "proves" that there was no ethnic cleansing betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the term.
Myth: The war of 1948 was inevitable self-defense for Israel
Israel could not have been established without significantly changing demographic facts on the ground. Palestinians were not about to leave their homes over night, so Israel had to make them.
Myth: Palestinians sold their land to the Zionist settlers
Claiming that Palestinians sold most of their land to the settlers serves to justify ethnic cleansing and Israeli expansionism. It is also absolutely false.
Myth: Palestinians were economic migrants who moved to Palestine after Zionist induced prosperity
Framing Palestinians as outsiders with no ties to the land is yet another attempt to justify their ethnic cleansing. This talking point is based on propaganda with no basis in reality.
Myth: The ethnic cleansing of Palestine was an accident of war
Denying the deliberate ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias during the Nakba is belied by the historical record, and by the tactics and targeted communities chosen by said militias.
Myth: Israel was outnumbered and outgunned in 1948 war
When discussing the 1948 war, the scrappy underdog surviving against the odds narrative is a sure way to elicit sympathy. But what do you do when you're actually the top dog in this situation? Concoct propaganda, of course.
Myth: Israel (or any other state) has a right to exist
No state in the world has a right to exist. Israel is no exception. This mythical right is invoked by Israel solely to deflect from its foundational and ongoing colonialism.
Myth: Palestinians left their communities based on Arab orders during the Nakba
By falsely claiming that Palestinians left based on some mythical Arab orders with no trace, the responsibility for the Palestinian exodus is transferred onto the Arabs and Palestinians themselves rather than Israel, the perpetrator.
Myth: War of 1967 was self-defense
Israel's self-defense narrative of the 1967 war is convenient, but revisionist nonsense. The political and diplomatic record at the time show each of its pretexts for launching a sneak attack on Egypt had no basis in reality.
Myth: Zionism is not colonialism, just Jewish self-determination
Unfortunately for Zionists, the biggest obstacle to rebranding Zionism from a colonial ideology into a movement for self-determination is that the writings of Zionist founders are easily accessible.
Myth: My people were here before your people
Israeli settler colonialism cannot be justified or tolerated, regardless of whatever historical claims are made. Boiling the history of Palestine down into a refutation of modern ethno-nationalist claims does a disservice to our real and multifaceted history.
Myth: Only Zionists were called Palestinians during the mandate period
When Zionists could no longer deny the physical existence of Palestinians, their delegitimization efforts sought to target the authenticity of their identity. including a conditional claiming of it.
Myth: The name “Palestine” was a Roman invention
The origins of the name 'Palestine' predate the existence of the Roman empire. This has not stopped Israeli apologists from claiming that this name was invented by the Romans to punish the Jewish people.
Myth: The Mandate of Palestine had a star of David on its flag
In their quest to project the idea that the settlers predated the natives, Zionists have even started co-opting the colonial British mandate of Palestine as if it were their own.
Myth: A land without a people for a people without a land
Claiming that Palestine was a land without a people is merely a reformulation of the colonial Terra Nullius argument, used to justify settler colonialism all over the world.
Myth: Falafel, Hummus, Za’tar are Israeli
The selective and ahistoric manner in which Israelis seek to claim Palestinian cuisine and traditions should be understood as a mechanism of settler self-indigenization.
Myth: Palestinians are Arabs that arrived in the 7th century
Attempts to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by claiming Palestinians are Arabs who arrived in the 7th century are not only despicable, but reveal a shocking ignorance about the history of the Middle East.
Myth: The “Conflict” is ancient
Framing the Palestinian question as a continuation of some ancient, never ending war in the region aims to obfuscate the root cause of the question, which is Zionist settler colonialism.
Myth: Palestinian identity is “fake”
What was the easiest way for Zionist colonists to legitimize ethnic cleansing and war crimes? Delegitimize their victims, and frame them as wandering nomads with no roots or history, completely erasing their Palestinian identity.
Myth: The Palestinian question is about religion
Attempts to frame the Palestinian question as a religious struggle aim to obfuscate the reality on the ground, and to present interfaith dialogue and normalization as a solution to colonialism.
Myth: It’s just so incredibly complicated
The arcanization of Palestine serves to obfuscate the reality on the ground. It treats Palestine as 'exceptional' in an attempt to justify things you would never condone in different contexts under the guise of 'nuance'.