New Zealand Friends of Israel was treated to a fascinating talk in Christchurch by a Christian German journalist’s experiences covering the Middle East over a ten-year period.

He covered two main topics during his talk: he ran through a number of myths which are commonly held in the West regarding the Middle East conflict and then he shared some reflections on Isaiah 41.

He is aware of many journalists who have been brought to tears because been unable to sell their stories to the various media organisations. Instead, many of the stories that we see are the stories that editors feel will not jeopardise their subscription numbers.

In effect, journalists take the attitude that whatever stories editors might want, they can be furnished. For example, there is a doorway in the security barrier which is open from 7:45 AM to 8:15 AM on every school day to allow schoolchildren who live on the wrong side of the world to get to school. But eventually there will be a child who will turn up too late and will be in tears when they refused entry through the door, creating a perfect photo opportunity for the “right story.”

During one interview with the architect of the security barrier, the question was asked about why the barrier was 10 m tall. Apparently it was to prevent sharpshooters from attacking residents on the other side. But then homeowners will not allow sharpshooters to operate from the roofs because they are aware that this would jeopardise their homes because of Israel in retaliation.  If this was the case, the wall need only have been 3 m high. Furthermore, on the section of the wall, the communities on both sides were Arabic. There are many absurdities such as this.

Another myth is that Israel is an apartheid state. Few New Zealanders realise that the senior judge presiding over the case that might lead to the indictment of the current Prime Minister is an Arab.  The senior IDF commander who led the war effort in the 2014 Gaza war was also an Arab.

It’s commonly held that the Gazan people want peace but are subjugated by a violent and radical government led by Hamas. This is not in fact the case. Many western journalists were sceptical of the election results because of the extraordinarily high participation rates and because Hamas had won the election by such a wide margin. But after much scrutiny it became clear that the results were in fact accurate. It means that despite the fact that Hamas is an openly violent and radical organisation, the people of Gaza endorsed their aims and objectives. These aims aren’t just too destroy Israel. Their aims are almost identical to that of Al Qaeda and the Islamic state.

Some people feel that an Arab cannot be trusted. Gerloff has a theory.  He believes that many Arabs will say what they believe what needs to be said in order to maintain a relationship. The relationship might be commercial, it might be necessary in order to further a cause. Whatever the case might be, the truth may be refashioned accordingly.

During the recent “Knife Intifada” many people puzzled over the motives of the knife wielders.  Most of them were reasonably well off and were enjoying all the benefits of Israel’s existence. One theory is that some of the killers were motivated by a need to win back the goodwill of their families after a dispute. In Arab culture, honour is a highly valued quality. Once lost, an Arab may carry out extreme acts to win it back. One way to win it back as to become a martyr and have a street named after you.

Next he shared his reflections on Isaiah 41 and wondered with some trepidation, how the prophecies in that chapter might be fulfilled.

There were many questions about how various scenarios to end the Middle East conflict might play out.  He quite rightly pointed out that he is merely a journalist and was therefore not qualified to speculate on these matters.

You may download a recording of his talk here.

Copies of his book, “The Palestinians: Myths and Martyrs” may be purchased from here.