Some falsehoods are innocently foolish, others foolishly fatal. Not recognizing the difference – mistaking one for the other – can have deadly consequences.

For instance, humoring childish souls who think the moon is made of green cheese won’t hurt anybody, but brushing aside political extremists who think Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians will – and does.

Enablers of such violence certainly include Israel’s “critics” who say they hold nothing against us yet believe the genocide libel: those who’ve already bought the lie and are themselves on the slippery slope to turning into antizionists. Their intellectually lazy, casually reckless disregard for factual accountability is bad enough.

Just as worrying is a willingness – even among folks who personally shy away from passing judgment self-righteously – to downplay deadly consequences that fanatics who peddle the libel are using it to produce.

Liberal society evinces a growing tendency to blur lines between harmless imaginings and deadly lies. Otherwise thoughtful, well-informed, good-hearted people believe that, because they harbor no ill will against Israel, “criticisms” of its national policies – in this case conduct of the Gaza war – cannot conceivably feed into the combustible atmosphere of antizionist incitement and help fan it into actual........

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