08 March 2015
Loading the Legal Dice against Israel
The Core Legal Deceptions of Israel’s Opponents
1. The Framework of Deceit
Legally framed attacks on Israel by critics and enemies feature prominently in the international mass media with propaganda hostile to Israel. Repeated by political leaders, commentators and at every opportunity by the Palestinians, their claims have become more or less standard ‘truisms’:
1. The West Bank is occupied;
2. The occupied West Bank is Palestinian territory;
3. The border of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is the 1949 Armistice Line between Jordanian and Israeli military forces: the Green Line;
4. The Jewish communities inside the Green Line are illegal under international law;
5. Israel is required to withdraw from the West Bank.
Yet all this has been almost without public challenge by Israel’s hasbara. This has created the impression that Israel has no adequate response to the accusations and that it is guilty as accused. As a result, the allegations have been widely and uncritically accepted as established truth.
