This week, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report accusing the Israeli military of deliberately targeting children. The commission alleged that more than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed and more than 44,000 were wounded between October 2023, after the Simchat Torah massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, and October 2025.

As with nearly every story of Israeli atrocities and Palestinian genocide, the report lacks essential context and frequently veers into outright fabrication. Writer Jonathan Sacerdoti quickly debunked the commission’s claims, noting the glaring lack of evidence that any of this is actually happening. Instead, the report relies heavily on unreliable Palestinian testimony.

The left understands that the conflict in the Holy Land reflects the larger conflict in the West between the secular left and the Christian right.

“The same pattern recurs case after case: a family account, a doctor’s guess about which weapon caused a wound, and a conclusion of premeditated murder,” Sacerdoti wrote. “Nothing connecting the dots.”

Missing from these accounts are the Hamas terrorists hiding behind — and under — those children.

It is well documented that Hamas uses human shields and places tunnels and command posts under schools, hospitals, and mosques to protect itself from the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas fighters also refuse to wear uniforms, allowing them to blend into civilian crowds at a moment’s notice. Worst of all, children used as cover for terrorists on the run are often recruited to become terrorists themselves.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers face severe restrictions in their pursuit of Hamas terrorists. They are forced to evacuate populated areas and warn civilians before operations. This gives Hamas time to escape, hide, and regroup.

That absurd cat-and-mouse game helps explain why Israel’s campaign against Hamas has been so painfully slow. Palestinian authorities hope to exhaust the Israelis and turn world opinion against them as civilian casualties mount over time.

For years, most American Christians who followed the conflict understood this challenge and supported Israel’s efforts. On one side stood a civilized liberal democracy attempting to follow the rules of war. On the other stood a failed Palestinian polity ruled by radical Muslim thugs who resort to lies, terror, and human shields.

Rather than build up their society, normalize relations with neighbors, and join the world economy, Palestinian leaders have kept their people in permanent refugee status for nearly 80 years. They have spent billions in foreign aid on unprovoked attacks against Israel and global public relations campaigns designed to excuse them.

The basic situation has not changed, but support for Israel has fallen significantly across the political spectrum.

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Some of that decline follows the confusing and frustrating conflict with Iran, which Israeli leaders helped instigate in hopes of weakening the chief sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah. But most of the resentment against Israel stems from ignorance and naivety among younger Americans.

Older generations who grew up in the 20th century had plenty of experience with corrupt, duplicitous foreign powers. Communist regimes lied. Islamist republics and dictatorships lied. Much of what came from the non-Western world had to be treated as propaganda designed to keep corrupt rulers in power.

And the corruption was not limited to governments. In many of these societies, business owners exploited workers, law enforcement preyed on citizens, political authorities embezzled public funds, and ordinary people learned to survive by surrendering agency and blaming suffering on outside forces beyond their control.

As a result, many of these countries never advance. They rely on Western support to prop up their existence. Trust is so low that collective action fails, and reform becomes nearly impossible. Foreign aid then worsens the dysfunction and corruption it was supposed to relieve.

That is the story of the Palestinians.

Their leaders blame all their problems on the West, especially Jews and white Westerners, and spread falsehoods both to the world and to their own people. They are always the passive victims. Failure merely happens to them; they never cause it.

As tiring as it is, the endless lies that flow from this learned helplessness must be challenged every time. Accepting baseless claims of genocide in Gaza will only prolong violence in the region and delude otherwise sensible Americans.

On the basis of dubious testimony and little hard evidence, many Americans now suspect Israel — and Jews generally — while foolishly trusting the fanatics who use children as shields and soldiers to terrorize innocent civilians.

Worse, the logic behind siding with the Palestinians carries over into American politics. That is why radical leftists, especially the socialist candidates who recently won primaries in New York City, talk so obsessively about Israel.

They believe lies about Palestinians because those lies help them believe their own lies. They study the techniques of “Pallywood,” the Palestinian propaganda machine, so they can repurpose them in their own campaigns. They express solidarity with “besieged” Palestinians so they can express solidarity with “besieged” American minorities. They accept the con so they can con others.

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All of it amounts to a political Ponzi scheme that works only so long as enough people believe it. By the time the truth comes out, the liars have often taken control and transformed the country into an authoritarian Third World mess. Look at the United Kingdom.

Jesus famously said, “The truth will set you free.” The logical inverse is also true: Lies will enslave you. When lies become commonplace and trust evaporates, every path to progress and flourishing closes.

Understandably, many younger people on the right want to stop talking about Israel and Palestine. Many Christians want to give up defending Israel’s actions. But that cedes moral and political ground to younger leftists who love talking about these issues and know exactly what they are doing.

The left understands that the conflict in the Holy Land reflects the larger conflict in the West between the secular left and the Christian right.

If the right wants to win that fight, it must become better at standing for truth and honesty. For now, that means supporting Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah and rejecting the lies that continue to pour out of this war.