WhatsappLacking any evidence of Palestinian peoplehood earlier than the 20th century, they resort to falsifying history using outright lies.
(May 6, 2025 / JNS)
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas recently claimed that the First and Second Jewish temples were in Yemen, not Jerusalem, citing the Quran. Not only does all reputable archeological research locate the temples in Jerusalem, but the Quran does not assert that they were in Yemen. So much for Abbas’s “facts.”
Indeed, the Palestinian narrative claiming rights to “Palestine” is based almost entirely on deceitful attempts to nullify deep Jewish connections to the region. Lacking any evidence of Palestinian peoplehood earlier than the 20th century, let alone any existence of any ancient Palestinian governance, leadership, distinct culture or archeological artifacts, they resort to falsifying history using outright lies.
Just as Palestinianism is fundamentally a movement to eliminate the Jewish state rather than build one of their own, the focus of its leaders is to discredit the abundantly proven Jewish role in the region’s history.
When examined rationally, Palestinian examples denying established records of Jewish sovereignty, religion, architecture and artifacts are almost comical or, at least, embarrassing in their blatant fabrication. But like most big lies, when told often enough to those with no other source of information, the locals (e.g., Palestinians) come to believe them, while many elites, who know better, patronizingly ignore them.
Ultimately, however, falsehood makes an unstable foundation for nationhood. Lies are not only deceptive and eventually disproven, they are also mean-spirited and thus morally brittle. In either case, they don’t wear well.
Here are 10 of the most egregious lies comprising the Palestinians’ argument they hope will justify their right to a state “from the river to the sea” in the Land of Israel.
- Lie No. 1: There were no Jewish temples in Jerusalem. Even Muslim scholars refute this lie. Persian historian Abu Jafar Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari (838-923), for example, described David’s and Solomon’s involvement in building on the Temple Mount in a way that corresponds exactly to the Bible’s description of the process. Extensive archeological evidence also confirms the existence of both temples. No wonder guidebooks published in the 1920s and 1930s by the Supreme Muslim Council, responsible for Muslim religious affairs in British Mandatory Palestine, unequivocally identified the Temple Mount as the location of Solomon’s Temple.
- Lie No. 2: Biblical figures were Palestinians. Many Palestinians, for example, claim Jesus was a Palestinian. But the Christian Bible clearly identifies Jesus as a Jew, saying he was born in Bethlehem, circumcised according to Jewish law (Luke 2:21), attended synagogue on Shabbat (Luke 4:16), and celebrated Passover in Jerusalem (John 2:13). Moreover, the term “Palestine” didn’t even exist in Jesus’s lifetime. It was invented by the Romans decades later.
- Lie No. 3: Jews have no claim over Jerusalem. Though Palestinians persuaded the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate Jerusalem and its Jewish sites as “Palestinian,” Jerusalem has always been the spiritual, religious and national center of the Jewish people. It was the capital of the biblical Jewish kingdoms and has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Furthermore, Jews have lived in Jerusalem, almost continuously, for 3,000 years.
- Lie No. 4: Jews have no right to sovereignty in “Palestine.” In fact, Jews had sovereignty and self-rule during three ancient periods: the United monarchy under kings Saul, David and Solomon (circa 1047-930 BCE); the Kingdom of Judah (circa 930-586 BCE); and the Hasmonean Dynasty (circa 140-63 BCE). All periods are confirmed by major archeological evidence. In contrast, no archeological or historical findings reference a Palestinian people or state.
- Lie No. 5: Jews have no connection to Hebron. Despite biblical references to Abraham settling in Hebron and purchasing the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs as a burial site for his wife, Sarah, Palestinians convinced UNESCO to call the tomb the Ibrahimi Mosque, negating its Jewish origins. Furthermore, Hebron was the first capital of King David’s Israelite kingdom. In modernity, Jews lived there continuously for 500 years until 1929, when an Arab pogrom murdered many of the Jewish residents and exiled the remainder.
- Lie No. 6: Rachel’s Tomb is a mosque. Though centuries of Muslim tradition identify this Bethlehem site as the burial place of Rachel, Palestinians persuaded UNESCO to call it Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque. In fact, the Palestinian myth that Rachel’s Tomb was associated with Bilal ibn Rabah, who is actually buried in Damascus, took shape only in 1996, when Muslim religious authorities decided to apply the name to the site.
- Lie No. 7: Palestinians are descendants of the Canaanites, the first people to inhabit the region. Canaanites disappeared three millennia ago, long before Arabs arrived. Some Arab Palestinians descend from Arab invaders who conquered the region in the seventh century. Many descend from 100,000 Arabs who immigrated during the British mandate in the 20th century. Noted Arab historian Philip Hitti clarifies: “There is no such thing as Palestine in history.”
- Lie No. 8: No archeological evidence connects Jews to the Land of Israel. A trail of thousands of archeological artifacts confirms Jewish heritage in the region, including a 1,500-year-old limestone capital decorated with menorahs, whose discovery was announced last month by the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
- Lie No. 9: Ashkenazim are fake Jews. Palestinians point to a debunked Khazar myth that posits that European Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of a Turkic empire that existed over a millennium ago. But peer-reviewed studies have discredited this theory, proving that Ashkenazim have genetic markers linking them to the Middle East, where Jews originated. Furthermore, Jews lived in Europe centuries before the Khazar Empire.
- Lie No. 10: ‘Palestine’ was always an Arab country. The Romans gave the Land of Israel the name “Syria Palestina” in the second century C.E. to disassociate Judea from its indigenous Jewish inhabitants. Arabs didn’t become a majority population in the region until after the Muslim conquests of the seventh century. Palestinian Arabs have never controlled any land in “Palestine,” always sharing the territory with Jews and descendants of other regional conquerors over the centuries.
Today, Palestinians still use the term “Palestine” to try to erase the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, which persuades many who are ignorant of the region’s true history. The fact is that the Palestinians’ national narrative is based on a series of big lies—a fiction that quickly crumbles when confronted with historical facts.
