Media Bias in the Coverage of the Gaza Conflict

By Danielle Wirsansky on July 23, 2014

If you haven’t heard about the Gaza Conflict, now is the time to learn as the hostility is rocketing (pun intended).

Media Bias in the Gaza Conflict.Credit to the World Zionist Movement 

 

As an Israeli-American, I found the lack of chatter about the Gaza conflict as tensions began to boil over recently unsettling. In the face of the atrocities occurring, it seemed like no one was talking about the issues. Despite having many relatives in Israel, Jewish friends, and being involved in Jewish organizations, no one was bringing it up.

Slowly, slowly, bits and pieces of news began to trickle in through my social media. I don’t pretend to be any great expert, and my news sources usually confine themselves to Facebook, Buzzfeed, and scrolling through the news slides on Yahoo! when I log into my email. I began to be appeased as more information started to filter through, only to once more be troubled by the bias the news was established in.

I love going through my news sources throughout the day and being updated on major events going on in the local, national, and international news. However, I found the lack of equal coverage between Israel and Palestine very disquieting.  Of course the issues facing Palestinians should be given light in the media, but I was confused why Israel was not getting equal coverage.  There are two sides to every story, after all. Were other articles that I had read also been skewed by a bias I had not noticed when I thought I was getting factual information?

IDF Leaflet dropped on the Gaza areas to warn residents of any danger.Credit to the World Zionist Movement 

 

Then came anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish people worldwide stemming from the split opinions on this conflict, from Jewish people being trapped in a Parisian synagogue by rioters, to a rabbi in Morocco being attacked on his way to services, the homes of Chilean Jews being stoned, while in the Netherlands a protest gathered with juxtaposed Israeli and Nazi Germany flags.  These attacks were not just worrying because I am Jewish, but because hate crimes of any kind are wrong. Hate is wrong.

I saw people on Facebook getting mad, writing statuses against Israel, condemning the American government for not condemning Israel, and spewing misinformed, ignorant, and just plain wrong information.  For some reason there is a media bias.

There is a website, honestreporting.com, created to defend Israel against media bias.  It takes instances of bias, such as a CNN reporter calling Israelis scum or English writer Mira Bar Hillel’s editorials denouncing Israel, and points out the flaws inherent in these people’s arguments against Israel and points out the hate shaping their opinions.

As an Israeli-American, I intend to give as much fact as I can, if only to better support my home country.  But this is not to say that I hate Palestine or the residents of Gaza; my only animosity is towards Hamas and all the havoc it as an organization has wreaked on innocent people, whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.

Two story tall sign in New York City about the Gaza Conflict.
Photo credit to Joshua Riddle at YoungConservatives.com

It needs to be made clear that despite the hostility each side displays towards each other, despite the violence escalating, despite the eye for an eye mentality intensifying with each act executed that there is one common enemy—and it is not each other. Instead I hope to make it clear to each side, each citizen, and each onlooker who is to blame and who we should be united against.

While there is too much information to give to paint a complete background for those who have been caught unaware by the topic, I will give certain facts that are important for every reader to know.

Unmasking the Villain

Hamas is a militant terrorist fundamentalist Islamic organization operating in the West Bank and Gaza.  It is an acronym for a title that roughly means Islamic Resistance Movement in English.  Its goal is to create an Islamic fundamentalist Palestinian state and it advocates the destruction of the state of Israel.  It was founded in the 1980s with the goal of waging jihad, or holy war, against Israel.  As Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “Hamas is an enemy of peace. [It] is dedicated to destroying the state of Israel.” Hamas’ refusal to recognize the state of Israel is one reason why it has rejected peace talks in the past.

What Makes a Villain?

The Gaza Conflict
Credit to the World Zionist Movement

Hamas operates schools, hospitals and religious institutions, soup kitchens and orphanages in Gaza and the West Bank, and runs an effective social welfare program in the territories, cementing the group’s popularity among Palestinians. This is so that they can later use the Palestinian people for their own gain, often putting them at risk. For example, as the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refuge on the Near East reported on their website on July 17th, they stumbled upon approximately twenty rockets hidden in a vacant school in Gaza. The Jewish Press has reported that some Hamas members are transporting themselves around Gaza via ambulances with children in them, to avoid being targeted by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force).

The Gaza Strip is known as one of the poorest lands on the planet.  Its per capita GDP of $3100 per annum puts Gaza in 171st place out of 226 countries.  Unemployment suspends at around 40 percent – but this economic turmoil doesn’t affect everybody in the The Strip.

According to a report released within in the past few week on the Calcalist website, the Hamas government has a basic 20 percent “tax” on imports that enter Gaza via the smuggling tunnels (yes, there are tunnels).  Regrettably, the government cut of the goods have failed to reach most Gazans.  Instead a particular fraction of Gaza residents have capitalized on the opportunities over the past decade to have become multi-millionaires: The senior Hamas leadership. They buy property and have lavish lifestyles while the people they claim to “serve” go without basic human functions needed for survival.

A Villainous Paradox

Attributes of the Gaza Conflict
Credit to the World Zionist Movement

Aside from their lavish lifestyles, Hamas leaders also use the money they extort from the Palestinian people to purchase rockets, each expensive beyond compare, that they hurl at Israel. When I say rocket, I mean fully lethal and dangerous air missiles. Thankfully Israel has a program developed for the sole purpose of stopping these missiles before they can strike- called Iron Dome- that is thankfully extremely effective during this instance of violence. However, the media coverage of this conflict has concentrated mostly on Palestinian suffering in Gaza, prompting disillusionment from Israel’s supporters. With the absence of Israeli deaths, Gaza is where the story is. The desolation, the stories of human harm and the Palestinian death toll are more gripping for many viewers and readers than those of Israelis in bomb shelters, taking cover from rockets, or standing at the mouth of craters where rockets have landed.

 

This is my declaration, wake up call, call to arms for all readers. Give me your fury, your rage, your resentment. Think of the suffering, the pain, the injustice. And make it right by keeping yourself truly informed on the topic and instead of egging on one side or another, remember that the true villain is Hamas.

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