Balance or truth?

One of today’s buzz words is ‘balance.’ The media purports to present a balanced view of current events, giving equal weight to both sides of the story. This seems right and fair, but often serves instead to perpetrate lies and create confusion.

In response to a recent article, called “Genocide?”, Dr Paul Doolan accused me of writing “Yet another grossly unbalanced article...” How do you balance evil with good, or light with darkness, or truth with lies? You cannot. I unashamedly choose truth over lies, light over darkness, and good over evil.

In a Fox News interview (1), shortly after the October 7 massacre, Tal Hartuv, herself a victim of a brutal terror attack, in reference to the current reporting of the Israel-Hamas war, put it this way, " We are talking about a war where there are two sides, and the sides are this: it's savagery or civilization, it's a war against (sic: between) evil and good, it's dark against light, it's cruelty against kindness, and it's death against life... I am now absolutely convinced... that (the media) by giving a platform in the name of balance and hearing both sides, that is irresponsible, and it could be the death blow to Western civilization, and I mean that with all seriousness". 

Just prior to the Babylonian conquest of Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah wrote,

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

At that time Truth was muddled because the people of Judah and Jerusalem had turned their backs on the God of Israel, the God of all truth, and had begun worshipping foreign gods, descending into all kinds of wickedness, perpetrated by the Father of Lies, Satan. And, sadly, so it is today, not just in Israel and Gaza, but in the whole world.

When standing trial before Pontius Pilate, Yeshua (Jesus) spoke saying “… I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” And Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). I can almost hear the frustration and cynicism in Pilate’s voice. In Jesus’ day too, truth was confused. The ‘blind guides’ of His day taught error and led the people astray. Jesus was not afraid to call them out. He called the Scribes and the Pharisees of his time ‘blind guides’, ‘hypocrites’, ‘whitened sepulchers’, and a ‘brood of vipers’ (Matthew 23). He didn’t go for balance, he spoke truth. His words were not ‘woke’ nor ‘politically correct’ at all.

I cannot think of a time in history when truth has been so confused with lies as it is today, when evil is called good, and darkness is called light. This is especially true in the context of the current war between Israel and Hamas. In seeking fairness and ‘balance’ the media perpetrate the untruths and factually incorrect propaganda spewed out by Hamas. In so doing they fall victim to the deliberate stratagem of Hamas, and intentionally or not, support the psychological war against Israel.

Hamas and its supporters are master propagandists and have no scruples whatsoever about twisting truth, making false claims, fake videos and uttering downright lies, to the point of totally rewriting history. In Islam it is permitted to lie in times of war if the goal is to advance Islam: “Talking is a tool for achieving the goals. If the objective is possible through both telling the truth and lying, lying is not recommended, because there is no such need. If the target (advancing Islam) can be achieved only through a lie, not telling the truth, lying is acceptable if the goal is acceptable” (2). ‘Taqiyya’ is the Islamic concept of the obligation to lie to any non-Muslim if that lie furthers the interests of Islam.

Even the name adopted by Hamas for the events of October 7, the “Al-Aqsa Flood”, is based on the lie that their attack on Israel was in response to a massive Israeli attack on the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – a total fiction.

Many claim that the October 7 attack was a ‘natural response’ to ‘the occupation’. What occupation? The last Israeli soldier and settler left the Gaza Strip in 2005. Since then, the Strip has had self-rule. In 2006, elections were held in the Strip and Hamas won 44.45 % of the vote, beating the ruling Fatah party, which gained only 41.43%. A unity government was formed, but less than a year later it was dissolved, when Hamas initiated an armed battle against Fatah. Hundreds of Fatah leaders were executed, imprisoned or expelled, and Hamas took total control of the Gaza Strip. They used their power and the billions of dollars of aid money received, to manufacture and amass arms, and to build hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels and bunkers, with the sole genocidal aim of attacking and destroying Israel. The citizens of the Gaza Strip received little, if any, of this aid money, while many millions of dollars have been discovered in the captured private homes and bunkers of the Hamas leadership. If anyone has been ‘occupying’ Gaza, it is Hamas.

Then there is the question of a ‘natural response.’ Many peoples have been conquered, displaced and occupied during the course of history, perhaps none more than the Jews, but they have not attacked innocent civilians in their beds, raping and mutilating women, slaughtering children, cooking babies alive in ovens, and carrying off captives, men, women, children, babies and the elderly and keeping them in inhumane conditions. There is nothing ‘natural’ about that. That was the action of demonically driven monsters.

So how are we to unravel all the lies and find truth? The only 100% reliable source of truth is the Bible. We must analyze the news media accounts carefully, checking the sources of information and the validity of evidence presented, but above all, we must prayerfully study the Bible and weigh up events according to the principles, historical accounts and prophecies contained therein. In the Bible, we find true balance, justice against mercy, punishment for sin against forgiveness, righteousness against impurity, perdition against redemption.

Salvation is open to any who receive Yeshua by faith, regardless of ethnicity, Jew, Arab and Gentile alike. The current Israel-Hamas war is exposing the lies and moral destitution of the Islamic Jihadist philosophy. There exists the possibility that, though they are suffering terribly now, in the long run, many Gazans will not only be set free from the physical oppression perpetrated by Hamas, but also be spiritually released from the lie that is Islam, and turn to the true God, the God of Israel who created the whole world, and find salvation.

If you really care about the people of Gaza, you will join Israel in defeating Hamas. You will not perpetrate Hamas’ lies and propaganda. Hamas has held the citizens of Gaza in poverty, oppression, and abject fear since it took power. It has educated a generation of children, from the cradle, in their philosophy of hate and violence. These children have been so brainwashed that they have only one life goal, to kill Jews and become martyrs. It is a death cult. Hamas has cravenly used the people of Gaza, the people they are supposed to be protecting, as human shields leading to the death of thousands. It has built its terror infrastructure in hospitals, schools, mosques and even in private homes so that the IDF has been forced to destroy some of these structures in order to fight the terrorists. The blame for the scenes of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, and the heavy death toll of civilians, must be laid squarely at the feet of Hamas.

I prefer truth, life, liberty and hope, to lies and false balance!

1.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSaY4k2CEZo&t=3s

2.     (748, 8: 2) (Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri).