Colonel Paul Linebarger's Psychological Warfare introduces the Propaganda Man, who represents the audience one is trying to persuade to one's point of view.  It is a general PsyWar principle that the instant the Propaganda Man wakes up to the fact that you are lying to him and abusing his trust, it's all over for you.  The Canada Palestine Association just published an article that, if it were a move in a chess game, would get a "???" from most annotators.  To put this in perspective, "??" is defined as  a move that "usually results in an immediately lost position."

The Canada Palestine Association's "Statement regarding Israeli attack on Palestinian worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque" did exactly that by proving that this organization is not only a collective liar, but an incompetent liar in the bargain.  The organization states, "As solidarity organizations with the Palestinian people, we condemn in the strongest terms the brutal Israeli attack on Palestinian worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque on April 5, 2023."  It supports this statement with a picture of men lying face-down in the mosque with their hands and feet tied, apparently by Israeli law enforcement.

Please take a look at the picture to see if there is anything unusual about it.  That's right: all of the "worshippers" are wearing shoes.

The pro-Israel movement needs to take this viral.  This scandal is "game over" for the "Free Palestine" fraud.  It gets even better, or worse, depending on whose side you are on, with Middle East Eye's "Israeli forces beat and detain Palestinians in al-Aqsa prayer hall."  The Palestinians in question were all wearing shoes, and were therefore doing something totally unrelated to Ramadan and Islam.  The Canada Palestine Association told a flat-out lie to the effect that Israel detained "worshippers," and Middle East Eye told a literal truth (that Israel detained Palestinians) intended to deceive — i.e., with the implication that they were in the mosque to pray rather than cause trouble.

This picture, albeit from Israel, reinforces the obvious fact that the violence at the Al Aqsa Mosque was started not by Israel, but rather by terrorists who were there to harm Jews and profane and defile Ramadan for genuine Muslims. Ramadan is a time for fasting and reflection (similar to Lent for Christians and Yom Kippur for Jews), and its observance does not require pre-positioned supplies of rocks large enough to cause death or serious injury.

The U.K. Telegraph, meanwhile, published a YouTube video called "Israeli police raid Al-Aqsa Mosque as worshippers fight back with fireworks."  When last I heard, fireworks have no role in the observance of Ramadan, so why were they present in the first place?  Not only is the Telegraph lying about Israel attacking "worshippers," but it is not even lying intelligently.  Its own video doesn't show worshippers. It shows people in terrorist masks and shoes yelling, "Allah akbar" and throwing explosives.  The video also stipulates that rocks and explosives were present in the mosque.  Guardian News makes this accusation: "Israeli police attack Palestinians at al-Aqsa mosque in eviction protests."  While some of the loud explosions could have come from Israeli tear gas grenades, the pyrotechnic ones came from fireworks thrown by the Palestinians.

Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus

Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus means "false in one thing, false in everything."  When somebody lies about something to which his or her listener is entitled to honest information, in this case whether Israelis attacked peaceful Muslims who were observing Ramadan in a mosque, the individual is a liar and cannot be trusted about anything.

The accusation of lying was so serious a couple of hundred years ago that it required satisfaction, otherwise known "grass before breakfast" because duels often took place on grassy fields.  But now it's 2023 rather than, let's say, 1823, and we can address this problem by proving with objective evidence that the other party to the conflict is lying.  The Canada Palestine Association published the accusation that Israel attacked worshipers in a mosque, while stipulating as a fact with its own picture that the individuals were wearing shoes in the mosque and were therefore not worshipers.  Their readers can form their own opinions as to whether anything else they say is believable.

The same goes for NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine, which leads to questions about the character and integrity of this organization.  "Only days ago, the Israeli military stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacked worshippers for the fifth time this month, injuring more than 150 people."  Their hyperlink cites Al Jazeera, which YouTube points out is owned by the Qatari government.  This Qatari propaganda organ is, like the Canada Palestinian Association, so incompetent at lying that it includes a video that shows rioters hurling rocks.  There is, meanwhile, growing concern that Al Jazeera has failed to register as a foreign agent pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

If the pro-Israel movement takes this ball and runs with it, it should be the end of the world for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way.  The author is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.

Image via Max Pixel.