You can’t scroll a comment section these days without tripping over the same lazy anti-Israel talking points, copy-pasted even under posts that have nothing to do with Israel.

Buzzwords like “genocide” and “occupation” get lobbed by people with an evidently shaky grasp of Middle Eastern history, radical Islam, and even basic geopolitics. They’re recited with the glassy-eyed zeal of a first-year undergrad who just discovered post-colonial theory.

Repeating these lines might earn likes and applause from the equally clueless, but that doesn’t make them true. If you’re going to weigh in on one of the world’s most complex conflicts, the bare minimum is knowing what you’re talking about.