History Is Not Gaslighting

By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief
BAYBAY CITY, Leyte, Philippines — August 4, 2026 — 9:05 p.m. PhST

Yesterday, WPS News published a historical timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stretching from the late nineteenth century to the present. The purpose was not to persuade readers to support Israel or Palestine. It was to establish a documented chronology.

Since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, I have been accused more than once of “gaslighting” younger Americans whenever I point out that the conflict did not begin in 2023, 1967, or even 1948. History rarely begins where politics would prefer it to.

That accusation misunderstands what an archive is supposed to do.

Archives are not built to validate anyone’s preferred narrative. They exist to preserve evidence. Documents, treaties, census records, military campaigns, diplomatic agreements, archaeological findings, eyewitness accounts, and historical scholarship do not become less relevant simply because they complicate a modern political position.

The history of Palestine cannot be rewritten by Israel. The history of Israel cannot be rewritten by Palestine. Neither can be rewritten by activists on social media, political parties, governments, or news organizations. The historical record belongs to the people who lived it and to the documents they left behind.

That does not mean historians agree on every interpretation. They do not. But there is an important distinction between debating the meaning of historical events and denying that documented events occurred at all.

History has also shown how dangerous conspiracy theories can become when they replace evidence. Fabricated works such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—a notorious antisemitic forgery repeatedly used to justify hatred and persecution of Jewish people—demonstrate how false narratives can acquire political influence despite having no factual foundation. Similar distortions have appeared throughout history against many peoples and nations. An archive has a responsibility to distinguish documented evidence from manufactured mythology.

At WPS News, our editorial policy is straightforward.

We document what happened as accurately as the available evidence allows. We identify competing claims when they exist. We distinguish between established facts, disputed interpretations, and ongoing investigations. Most importantly, we preserve chronology, because chronology provides future historians with the framework needed to evaluate events fairly.

Readers are free to disagree with our conclusions. They are not expected to agree with every interpretation we present.

They are, however, entitled to know what the historical record actually says.

That is not gaslighting.

That is the work of an archive.