The brilliant newspeak term “alternative facts” that Kellyanne Conway coined in a Jan. 22 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” rocketed George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel “1984” to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list. What, after all, did US President Donald Trump’s counselor say? She found her own way, albeit strangely, to explain the gap between what White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said regarding the number of people who attended her boss’ inauguration and the facts and photos of the event reported by the media.
In Israel, contradictions between media reports and versions of events told by those in power are routine stories: The same person says one thing and within a second says the exact opposite. That person is none other than the honorable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the premier himself, not a spokesman or an adviser. Netanyahu not only lets loose alternative facts using mere words, he creates them even before the ink has dried on press releases issued by his office. Take, for example, his emotional Dec. 16 appeal to the squatters of the illegal Amona outpost in the West Bank.
“My heart is with you. We are living in a difficult time, for you, your families and the entire people of Israel,” the prime minister said, trying to ingratiate himself with the group of land thieves who constructed their outpost on private Palestinian land. To compensate the Jewish lords of the land for their distress, the prime minister promised them a handsome bonus, telling them that he had instructed that the demolition of all illegal housing be expedited in all parts of Israel.
“I am not willing for there to be discrimination in the enforcement of building laws between Israeli citizens, between Jews and Arabs, one person and another,” he said. “I will fight for there to be one law for all, and the same enforcement for all, something that has not been the case — until now — for decades.” A declaration is one thing, and a deed is another. The alternative facts soon followed. Netanyahu proved determined to exchange his “one law for all” pledge with one law for Jews and another for Arabs.
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