A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a bullhorn during a protest at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on March 11, 2025. Photo: Daniel Cole via Reuters Connect.

If I walked into a room tonight wearing a glittering crown and greeting people in Spanish, would anyone truly believe I was the Queen of Spain?

If I strolled down the street in a police uniform, flashing a badge I bought online, should I be trusted to enforce the law? If I wore a designer jacket from a market stall in Istanbul, could I claim to be wealthy?

Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, the global conversation works on exactly that kind of shallow logic: appearances are enough, as long as they match the story people want to tell.

Truth becomes irrelevant. Verification is optional.

Every few weeks, new images emerge online: children with sunken cheeks, presented as evidence of mass starvation in Gaza. Some are genuine, hunger exists in every conflict zone. But many of these photos are recycled from Syria, Yemen, or decades-old African crises. And yet they spread unchallenged, often accompanied by videos featuring “witnesses” surrounded by well-fed adults.

The world doesn’t stop to ask obvious questions. If Gaza were truly experiencing the scale of famine some claim, how are so many people visibly healthy? Why are there Instagram accounts for Gaza restaurants, showing upscale food? Why are Hamas leaders, living comfortably in Qatar, not using their millions to feed their people?

Because outrage, not accuracy, is the goal. The narrative is set: Israel must be blamed, no matter the evidence.

The Hamas Commander in a Press Vest

Consider the story of Anas Al-Sharif, eulogized by Al Jazeera as a “fearless journalist” killed near al-Shifa Hospital. Within hours, international outlets repeated the claim. Social media turned him into a martyr of press freedom.

But the Israel Defense Forces produced detailed evidence — rosters, training logs, internal communications — proving that Al-Sharif had been a Hamas operative since 2013, responsible for advancing rocket attacks. His press vest was not a shield of neutrality; it was camouflage.

The response? Al Jazeera called the evidence “fabricated.” The Committee to Protect Journalists refused to acknowledge the documentation at all. Not because the proof was lacking, but because accepting it would dismantle their preferred storyline.

This is Israel’s perpetual reality: the sentence is decided before the trial begins. Facts are filtered through bias. Documentation is dismissed as “propaganda.” Meanwhile, Hamas has perfected the art of Western emotional manipulation.

The aim is always the same — inflame emotions before facts can catch up. And too often, it works.

Rewarding the Playbook

The tragedy is not just in the lies, but in how the world rewards them. France and the UK recently agreed to recognize a Palestinian state, even as Hamas openly declares its intention to repeat the October 7 atrocities “again and again.”

It’s an absurd moral inversion: terrorists commit the massacre, and Israel is punished in the court of global opinion.

If no amount of evidence will change the world’s mind, then Israel must stop fighting on an uneven playing field. Defend without apology. End the war decisively. The accusations will be the same no matter what Israel does.

This issue isn’t just about Israel’s reputation; it’s about the survival of truth in a world that increasingly prefers the crown over the queen, the costume over the character, and the lie over the evidence.

The real tragedy is not that Israel is hated. The real tragedy is that the truth has become optional.