“The Italians having a proverb,” wrote the 17th-century British courtier Anthony Weldon, “‘He that deceives me once, its his fault; but if twice, it’s my fault.’”

Today, we commonly summarize that old Italian proverb as: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Since the horrific 7 October attack, the far-right Israeli government and its army of propagandists have deceived and fooled Western politicians and journalists not once or twice, but multiple times.

There are almost too many lies, distortions and falsehoods to keep track of. Forty babies beheaded by Hamas? Never happened. Babies baked in ovens or hung on clothes lines? False. A Bond-villain-style lair hidden under al-Shifa hospital? Nope. Palestinians in Gaza caught on camera faking their injuries? A complete fabrication. The list of Hamas hostage-takers found on a wall in the al-Rantisi children’s hospital? Sorry, no, it was just the days of the week on a calendar in Arabic.

How about the atrocities that Israeli forces have been credibly accused of, that they then loudly denied, and then later … were found to be responsible for? The flour massacre in February? The bombing of the refugee convoy last October? The white phosphorus attack in southern Lebanon, also in October?

As my friend the Palestinian-American analyst Omar Baddar laid out in a now-viral tweet:

Timeline on repeat:

• Israel commits massacre

• Israel denies massacre

• Media says we don’t know who committed massacre

• investigation reveals Israel committed massacre

• News cycle moves on

• average person doesn’t know Israel systematically committing massacres.

Yet the Israelis keep telling lies and our political and media elites in the west keep getting fooled. Shame on them.

Perhaps no Israeli lie, however, has been more damaging,........

© The Guardian