If It Doesn’t Make Sense, It’s Probably Not True

(Written June 20, 2025)

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the same headline or social media post: “Dozens of Palestinians shot while waiting for food.” The platform doesn’t matter—Substack, X, Instagram, Facebook—they all serve up the same inflammatory claim: that Israeli soldiers are deliberately firing into crowds of starving civilians.

And every time, the story spreads like wildfire.

There’s rarely a pause. Rarely a question. Just outrage, repost, repeat.

We used to say that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Now, extraordinary claims require nothing more than a trending hashtag.

But let’s stop for a second—just a second—and use the one tool that seems to be in increasingly short supply: common sense.

Why would Israeli soldiers, standing at aid trucks or monitoring humanitarian convoys, open fire on civilians waiting peacefully for food?

What could possibly be the motive? What strategic, military, or even psychological advantage would that give Israel or the IDF? In what world would such a move not result in global condemnation, a collapse in international support, and a self-inflicted propaganda disaster?

It wouldn’t. Because it doesn’t make sense.

And yet the accusation is repeated so often, with such coordinated fury, that people begin to believe it—or worse, they feel afraid to question it. As if questioning makes you complicit in oppression. As if asking for proof is itself a crime.

Let’s be clear: the IDF isn’t perfect. No military is. Civilian casualties have occurred, and tragically, they always do in war—especially in an asymmetric one where Hamas embeds itself among civilians, launching rockets from schoolyards and storing weapons in hospitals. But intent matters. Motive matters. Context matters. And the current smear campaign ignores all three.

The Death of Critical Thinking

When you read that “dozens were killed,” ask yourself: How do they know?

Where did that number come from? Who verified it?

Was it the Gaza Health Ministry—a body run by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization with a vested interest in portraying Israel as a monster?

Was it a local doctor at a hospital? One who may be brave and well-meaning, but who was not actually present at the scene and is simply relaying hearsay?

Was it a “witness” with a blurred face and no name, speaking to a reporter who lacks the means—or the access—to verify any of it?

Was it a video clip, three seconds long, showing chaos but no context?

Too often, the entire world is willing to accept unverified claims because they fit the narrative. The narrative that Israel is cruel. That the IDF is brutal. That Jews with power must be held to a standard no other nation is asked to meet.

Even if the story makes no sense. Even if it contradicts everything we know about Israel’s military code of conduct, which goes out of its way to avoid civilian harm. Even if it violates basic logic.

In fact, it’s because it violates logic that it works so well. The more shocking the claim, the more viral it becomes. And in this media ecosystem, truth is no longer what’s provable—it’s what’s shareable.

Ask a Better Question

So, before you react emotionally to the next outrage headline, try asking these three simple questions:

1. Does this make sense?
   Would any rational actor do what’s being alleged? What’s the motive?

2. How do they know?
   Who’s reporting it, and what’s the chain of evidence?

3. Who’s telling me this—and why?
   What does the source gain by making me believe this?

The sad truth is, some people want to believe the worst about Israel. Not because the facts support it, but because it aligns with their worldview. And for others, especially younger, well-meaning idealists, they’ve been conditioned to think that standing with the underdog—no matter the facts—is inherently virtuous.

It’s not. It’s lazy. And it’s dangerous.

Because believing lies about Israel doesn’t just harm Israel—it emboldens Hamas. It fuels antisemitism. It pollutes the global discourse with fiction presented as fact. And it tells the world that truth no longer matters—only clicks, outrage, and ideological allegiance.

The Tragedy of False Outrage

There is real suffering in Gaza. Real hunger. Real desperation. And yes, there are real tragedies where innocent people have died—some as victims of war, others as victims of Hamas’s tactics. But when every single incident is spun into a war crime accusation—no matter how implausible—we lose the ability to tell the difference between accidental tragedy and intentional atrocity.

Worse, we incentivize the creation of more false stories. Because if the world will believe anything—without proof, without pause—then propaganda wins. Terror wins. And truth dies.

Final Thought

Outrage is easy. Thinking is hard. But if we’re ever going to dig out from this moral landslide, we have to rediscover the courage to question.

Not everything that trends is true. Not every post deserves a share. And not every accusation deserves your belief.

Believing every accusation without evidence doesn’t make you compassionate. It makes you complicit in a lie.

You don’t need to be pro-Israel to ask for proof.

You just need to be pro-truth.

Harry Katcher is a writer and editor based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He writes on Israel, the Middle East, and the challenges of moral clarity in modern discourse.