The United States assessment of an explosion that hit a hospital in Gaza is that the cause of the blast was not a military strike by Israel. “American and Israeli intelligence said early evidence showed the deadly explosion was caused by an errant rocket fired by Palestinian fighters,” the New York Times reports.
Appearing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed the conclusion, saying “based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”
But while this assessment came relatively soon after the blast — which had been swiftly and broadly condemned when it was at first (and widely) perceived to be an Israeli attack — it did not come fast enough. Nor probably could it have, asserts Harvard Law School star Laurence Tribe.
Without referring directly to Mark Twain‘s truism that a “lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes,” Tribe says as much — and says that the damage can’t be undone.
Assuming this intelligence proves correct, as I obviously hope it does, much of the harm of falsely blaming Israel for bombing the hospital in Gaza will have been done and will never be undone. That’s the terrible reality of how propaganda works. https://t.co/zkt5OZUHGu
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) October 18, 2023
Shakespeare’s “the truth will out” may also be, like Twain’s idea, a fact, but Tribe asserts that whatever the public ultimately learns about the truth, “much of the harm of falsely blaming Israel for bombing the hospital in Gaza will have been done and will never be undone.”
“That’s the terrible reality of how propaganda works,” Tribe explains.
