Deciphering the headlines

According to the Oxford language website, deciphering is defined as “succeeding in understanding, interpreting or identifying something.”

Having the ability to do this is a requirement these days, especially as the print and online media revel in producing misleading headlines and news reports. Reading between the lines and deciphering ambiguous and contradictory narratives is essential if one hopes to discover real intentions and agendas.

Politicians love to speak in riddles and, where possible, to hide their true aims from the befuddled masses.

Quite often, their rhetoric reveals the whole story but more often than not the press releases will result in confusion.

This ability to scatter red herrings has been perfected, especially when it concerns Israel.

The following headline appeared in the 19 May edition of the Jerusalem Post: “Washington wants to make Jerusalem feel safe by showing it is serious about military co-operation (re. Iran) but also wants to discourage the Jewish State from actually using force against Tehran’s nuclear program.”

If you read this more closely, you will rapidly perceive that what it actually means is that the Biden Administration hopes to create a false sense of security so that Israeli decision-makers will be lulled into believing that the USA has its back. In actual fact, of course, if you decipher the real meaning, you will see that the Americans have no intention of doing what really needs to be done.

Naturally, if and when Israel decides that there are no other options to stop Iran’s rush to the nuclear missile threat, the US will wash its hands of any involvement.

There are already reports that some sort of sanctions relief may be in the works, and if these turn out to be correct, you can be sure that once again State Department experts will have sold us down the river. After all, if North Korea could acquire nuclear weapons thanks to US waffling and empty threats, then why can’t Iran do the same?

Indications that Israel is scheduled to be “sold down the river” are becoming clearer with every passing day. Biden’s top official dealing with Iran has within the last few days reiterated that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the Iranian headlong rush to nuclear weapons capability. It seems that Oman may be used as a convenient conduit to offer Iran inducements. Naturally, any thought that Washington may be embarking on a doomed appeasement path raises hackles. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of history should instantly recognise the putrid odour of Neville Chamberlain’s futile attempt to placate a genocidal regime.

Unravelling the real meaning behind the headlines should be no great feat, yet so far, there has been stupefied silence from those who should be screaming from the rooftops.

Another example revolves around the statements issued on almost a daily basis by the internationally embraced “democratic” PA leadership, terror spokespersons and media commentators.

Two-faced UN and EU-sponsored pontifications abound where security forces actions to locate and punish terrorists are equated with the deeds of the murderers.

After Israel recently eliminated terror murderers, the Foreign Ministers of France, Egypt, Germany and Jordan, collectively known as the “Munich Group,” convened and expressed their “alarm at the new round of violence.”

The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs had this to say: “Israel and its settler militias have NO sovereignty over Jerusalem or its holy sites.”

The PA Islamic Fatwa Council joined in: “Jewish tours of the Temple Mount are an open defiance of Muslims in various parts of the world.”

The senior political analyst at Al Jazeera wrote: “the Palestinians have every reason to hate Israel. It is a settler colonial apartheid State erected on the ruins of their homeland.”

If these expressions of “fraternal love” fail to register, the next two should hopefully clarify the real situation.

Abbas, our eternal “peace partner” had this to say: “the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fifty-nine years ago is one of the most important achievements in Palestinian policies.”

Suppose someone did not quite understand his UN diatribe to the General Assembly. In that case, Abbas has this week signed a decree making denial of the Nakba a criminal offence punishable by up to two years of incarceration.

It should not be too difficult to discern the real intent behind all these utterances. Despite clearly branding Israel as a catastrophic illegal creation and a malignant presence, a significant number of individuals, groups, nations and self-loathers promote these poisonous canards.

These days the dirty words have mutated and now “Jews, Zionists, Israel and settlers” are words attracting condemnation and punishment.

The fact that Netanyahu has not received an invitation to the White House since his re-election as PM excites many observers of the political scene. One would think that there are more than enough challenges at home to keep him busy without traipsing to Washington and meeting with a President who professes friendship but, in actuality, heads a political party increasingly hostile to Israel.

Jill Biden will shortly be visiting Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal. Apparently, Israel is not on her itinerary, and presumably, this is intended to send a message. Joe is busy meddling in Israel’s internal discussions about law reforms and its handling of Palestinian Arab terror all of which is not playing out according to the State Department script. It seems that even a royal wedding in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan cannot lure the US President to the region which is just as well because who knows what mayhem may result if he were to speak.

News reports surface on a weekly basis implying that Saudi Arabia is on its way to recognising Israel. When one deciphers the mixed messages and dispels the fog surrounding this supposed momentous event one soon ascertains that contrary to the wildly euphoric headlines, there are insurmountable obstacles ahead. Like all such mirages in the desert, full and genuine peace without conditions and tricks can only be achieved after illusions are shattered.

Shattering ingrained illusions on the part of Palestinian Arabs who demand Israel’s disappearance is nowhere in sight. Unless and until the deep-seated hate and denial of historical truth is uprooted in Arab and Islamic societies, one can forget about any sort of impending love fest.

As media watch groups can attest, when it comes to Israel, any sort of accurate reporting is hard to find.