As historian Rashid Khalidi emphasized in his book Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, “language matters.” Standard terms and tropes “are the essential building blocks of a lofty and solid edifice of denial of an entire narrative, of the existence of an entire people, which is basic to the affirmation of a formidable counterreality.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/54320009

Oct 20, 2026

As historian Rashid Khalidi emphasized in his book Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, “language matters.” Standard terms and tropes “are the essential building blocks of a lofty and solid edifice of denial of an entire narrative, of the existence of an entire people, which is basic to the affirmation of a formidable counterreality.”

Prominent groups, notably the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, AIPAC and Christians United for Israel – along with allies in Congress, the Executive Branch and the punditocracy – rely on the same buzzwords to defame critics of #Israel and deny its systematic crimes against #Palestinian people. For instance: ** “antisemitic” ** “blood libel” ** “held to a higher standard” ** “homeland for the #Jewish people” ** “Israel’s right to exist” ** “renounce violence”