The Maps That Lie about Israel’s History

Jan. 14 2015

A series of maps has been circulating on college campuses, anti-Israel websites, and even in mainstream publications that purportedly depict “Palestinian land loss.” They have appeared as advertisements in New York train stations and on the sides of buses in Vancouver. The maps combine a number of false claims implying that Israel has gradually annexed more and more Palestinian land since 1946. Shany Mor explains:

The message of the [maps] is clear: The Jews of Palestine have been assiduously gobbling up more and more “Palestinian land,” spreading like some sort of fungal infection that eventually devours its host.

There are some outright lies in these maps, to be sure. But the most egregious falsehoods transcend mere lies. They emerge from a more general and quite deliberate refusal to differentiate between private property and sovereign land, as well as a total erasure of any political context.

This final point is especially crucial. It goes to the question of whether the Palestinians actually “lost” this land and the context of that alleged “loss.” We could quite easily, for example, make a panel of maps showing German “land loss” in the first half of the 20th century. It would be geographically accurate but, without the political context, it would tell a completely misleading story amounting to a flat-out lie. And that is precisely what these maps are: a lie.

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More about: Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, Idiocy, Israel, Palestinians

A Jewish Obligation to Vote

On October 3, 1984, Rabbi Moses Feinstein—a leading figure among American Orthodox Jews, whose halakhic opinions are obeyed and studied today—wrote a letter encouraging Jews to vote in the upcoming elections. Feinstein, a talmudist of the old school, was born in a shtetl in the vicinity of Minsk, then in the Russian empire, before elections were known in that country. He came to the U.S. in 1937, at the age of forty-one, to escape the ever-worsening persecution of devout Jews in the Soviet Union. That experience no doubt shaped his view of democracy. Herewith, the letter in full:

On reaching the shores of the United States, Jews found a safe haven. The rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights have allowed us the freedom to practice our religion without interference and to live in this republic in safety.

A fundamental principle of Judaism is hakaras hatov—recognizing benefits afforded us and giving expression to our appreciation. Therefore, it is incumbent upon each Jewish citizen to participate in the democratic system which safeguards the freedoms we enjoy. The most fundamental responsibility incumbent on each individual is to register and to vote.

Therefore, I urge all members of the Jewish community to fulfill their obligations by registering as soon as possible and by voting. By this, we can express our appreciation and contribute to the continued security of our community.

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More about: 2024 Election, American Jewry, Democracy, Halakhah