Andrew Yang is currently running for mayor of New York City. Being a Democrat, Yang has gained support from many fellow liberals who champion his values. However, one of those values would come under fire from many of his supporters. Earlier this week, Yang tweeted support for the people of Israel after civilians were targeted by Hamas in the city of Jerusalem.

It's hard to understand why supporting innocent lives who were targeted by a terrorist organization would be a stance some liberals disagreed with. The answer lies somewhere in the midst of a conflict that has gone on far too long. There has long been misunderstanding and misinformation spreading regarding Israel. Many hateful people use it to spread antisemitism. Many ignorant people spread it without knowing any better.

This latest episode started with the Supreme Court cases of evictions in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The property was purchased by the Jewish community in 1875. Shimon Hatzaddik or Simon the Just, is how the area is known to the Jewish people. It's named after the 3rd Century BCE Jewish High Priest, who is also buried there.

Up until 1948, a small community of Jewish people lived in the area. That was when Jordan invaded Jerusalem and evicted all the Jewish families. The Jordanian government then assumed custodianship of the neighborhood and leased this particular property to Palestinian families. This invasion and occupation was illegal, along with the fact that Jordan didn't transfer ownership to the families.

The British legislation on which that Jordanian law is based, states that without transfer of ownership, the original owners' rights have never been extinguished. Following the Six Day War of 1967, a law was passed in Israel which allowed anyone whose property had been seized as enemy property in 1948 to reclaim it. This law also stated that property could only be reclaimed if they could demonstrate proof of ownership.

Since the Palestinian residents were never granted ownership of the property, they couldn't prove any legal transfer of title. So the property was registered to two Jewish groups in 1973. When the Jewish groups sued the Palestinian families for squatting on their property in 1982, Israeli courts ruled in the Palestinians' favor. They determined that though ownership wasn't demonstrated, the families still enjoyed Protected Tenant Status. Therefore, they could not be evicted from the property as long as they paid rent and maintained it.

That decision was mutually agreed upon by both parties, who signed on it. Following this decision, however, some residents stopped paying rent. There were other residents who began carrying out illegal construction on the property. Based on these non-payments and unlawful changes, the trusts began proceedings against those residents in 1993. There have been a series of cases ever since.

In February, the Jerusalem District Court upheld an earlier court decision, which stated if the residents still refused to pay rent, some of them would have to vacate the premises. The tenants in question appealed to the Supreme Court, who has agreed to hear the case. We're currently waiting on that verdict.

It seems like a fair process right? If you don't pay rent, you get evicted. However, that's not how a lot others were spinning it. Elizabeth Warren called the evictions "illegal" and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Israeli forcers were "inflicting violence" and "forcing families from their home." These immediately became the popular opinions on this issue. As usual, Israel is unfairly portrayed as the villain.

One of the examples certain people used to show how Israel was inciting violence was a clip being shared on Twitter. The video seemed to show Israelis dancing and cheering near the Western Wall while the Temple Mount was on fire. It was meant to convince people that Jewish people were celebrating a Muslim place of worship burning down. The only problem is that isn't what happened.

First of all, the Jewish people were at the Western Wall celebrating Jerusalem Day. A video from a different angle shows that they were dancing and cheering before any fires broke out. And the Temple Mount itself never caught on fire. A tree next to the Temple Mount did. And that fire was caused by Palestinian rioters who were throwing firecrackers at police.

These rioters instigated this by not only throwing fireworks at police, but throwing stones over the Western Wall. This could've killed a Jewish person on the other side, This led to police getting involved, which led to a riot between them and the Palestinians. The popular narrative is that Israeli police were deliberately trying to stop Palestinians from praying at the Temple Mount during Ramadan. That simply isn't true.

What followed was a series of rockets being fired into Israel. From Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to Lod, Hamas fired rockets into Israel targeting civilian areas. Some have been killed and several have been wounded. Terrifying videos which captured the violence have been shared on social media. Israelis have been sleeping in bomb shelters to stay safe. As of right now, over 1,500 rockets were fired since Monday afternoon.

It is entirely wrong for anyone to suggest that Israel provoked these attacks. Such statements are completely false. It's also wrong for people to equate evictions to rockets being fired at innocent people. Someone's life being taken or being put at risk is not at all comparable to someone being evicted from their home. The value for a human life in the face of physical violence is and will always be more important.

That principle applies to the Palestinian casualties from this violence as well. However, if you listen to the popular narrative, the blame is being put in the wrong place. Many will say that Israel is to blame for Palestinian deaths as a result of their attacks. First of all, Israel doesn't "attack," it acts out of self-defense. Why would they just sit back and allow their population to be wiped out? Second of all, the blame shouldn't be placed on Israel, it should be placed on Hamas.

When Israel fires back at Hamas, it does everything in its power to prevent civilian casualties. The IDF sends out messages in several ways prior to taking action, in an effort to warn civilians to leave those areas. The problem is that Hamas forces civilians to stay in those areas. They hide weapons in civilian buildings and park their missiles on residential streets. Their process of using human shields has been going on for a very long time.

Many people will claim that there's more deaths on the Palestinian side, but the context of why that is often gets removed from the discussion. The IDF is a moral army, despite what many might try to suggest. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Are there some civilians in Israel that are violent towards Palestinians? Yes, of course there are, and that should be condemned. But that shouldn't speak for an entire country and justify harmful misinformation.

This misinformation continues to be spread by many inside so-called "progressive" circles. Ilhan Omar tweeted this week, calling Israel's acts of self-defense "terrorism." She also wrote that the Iron Dome should be used to protect Palestinians. Let's unpack that for a moment.

Who would be using the Iron Dome in this instance? Hamas would, and it is a terrorist organization. Contrary to popular belief, Hamas instigates these attacks, not Israel. Israel gets attacked by Hamas completely unprovoked. The Iron Dome is designed only to intercept missiles. The best self-defense for Hamas is to stop attacking Israel.

As previously stated, Hamas doesn't care about Palestinian civilians. All they care about is destroying Israel and it will sacrifice its own people to do that. Omar's attempts to blame Israel for the suffering Palestinians experience is laughable. Palestinians absolutely should be free of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They are to blame for the plight of Palestinians.

Many ill-informed individuals are retweeting this kind of misinformation. They're sharing infographics on Instagram which contain lies and propaganda. This could very well lead to violent attacks on Jewish people. There are several instances of hate crimes against Jewish people on the street in broad daylight. Jewish college students have spoken about their frightening experiences on campus as a result of anti-Israel rhetoric.

It would be horrible for a spike in hate crimes to occur against Jewish people. The sad thing is, many people wouldn't connect the dots to see how lies about Israel contributed to it. But making people aware of the truth is a good first step. It's also a good first step towards peace. Don't fall victim to malicious lies and false information. It is crucial to our survival as a human race, which includes Israelis and Palestinians.