Media failure to report Israeli atrocities

Media failed to examine realities of Gaza occupationBy Munira Syeda
Posted: 02/01/2009 11:16:06 PM PST

http://www.dailybreeze.com/opinions/ci_11605677
Any objective report card on the American media coverage of Israel's war on Gaza would have a grade of "C" at best.

For the most part, the mainstream media reported on the conflict as a "tit for tat" between two equal opponents, with the blame resting squarely on the Palestinian side. The Israeli government's narrative was accepted as fact, even as Israel barred journalists from the battlefield.

Woefully missing were context and in-depth analyses of the invasion, a lack of willingness to ask tough questions and corroborate information. The media also seemed to ignore the fact that Israel turned Gaza, a region twice the size of Washington, D.C., crowded with 1.5 million people, into the largest open-air prison in the world.
After Israel's pullout, leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz's journalist Gideon Levy was blunt:

"The conclusion is that Israel is a violent and dangerous country, devoid of all restraints and blatantly ignoring the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, while not giving a hoot about international law. The investigations are on their way.

"Graver still is the damage this will visit upon our moral spine. It will come from difficult questions about what the (Israeli Defense Forces) did in Gaza, which will occur despite the blurring effect of recruited media."

The most courageous piece of reporting from mainstream media was by CBS' "60 Minutes" - a month after the Dec. 27 invasion. Correspondent


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Simon reported on a West Bank fragmented by 600 checkpoints, the expansion of illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied territories and the apartheid in place:
"Israel is building what it calls a security wall between the West Bank and Israel. The Palestinians are furious because it appropriates 8percent of the West Bank. Not only that, it weaves its way through Palestinian farms, separating farmers from their land. They have to wait at gates for soldiers to let them in. Settlers get a lot more water than Palestinians, which is why settlements are green and Arab areas are not."

Another rare example of courageous reporting came at the start of Gaza invasion.

CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez investigated and proved, contrary to popular notions, that Israel bombed a tunnel on Nov. 4, and thus was the first party to break the cease-fire.

At the end of Israel's invasion, more than 1,300 Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children, had been killed. More than 5,400 were injured. The Red Cross reported "shocking" scenes of children left by their mothers' corpses and said: "The Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded."

Amnesty International said Israel committed war crimes, such as using white phosphorus in residential areas. And Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, reported on Israel's chief military rabbi, who distributed pamphlets to soldiers urging them to show "no mercy" in Gaza.

Why is scrutiny of Israel's atrocities largely missing from the American press?

If I were still a journalist, here are some questions I would ask. These are the questions being posed in the European, Arab and Israeli press.

Why did the Bush administration refuse to push for a cease-fire or the evacuation of American citizens in Gaza?

Why did Israel have a ban on journalists in Gaza? Did Israel have something to hide, and if so, what?

Why is Israel getting away with the use of wildly disproportionate force against Palestinian civilians?

Is military force a solution to a problem that is inherently a problem of occupation and systematic dehumanization of a people?

Now, I do not believe American journalists are biased. However, I do believe that most journalists, when covering the Middle East conflict or doing any international reporting, are not motivated to dig for information that pushes the boundaries of debate. They passively regurgitate the Israeli and the U.S. administration lines in their 30-second broadcast or 12-inch print pieces, without providing context.

The true nature of a regional conflict can't be understood in the absence of context.

Journalists also lack necessary institutional support. The industry is undergoing a fundamental change, making coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict challenging. Slumping ad revenues have hit newspapers hard, shrinking their presence and giving way to digital reporting and citizen journalism.

Another barrier to candid reporting on Israel's assault on Palestinian civilians - the threat of accusations of anti-Semitism.

Hard as it may be, journalists must do what is right.

Veteran political journalist Helen Thomas said: "We in the press have a special role since there is no other institution in our society. I do believe that our democracy can endure and prevail only if the American people are informed."

Munira Syeda is communications coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area, in Anaheim. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism and worked for several newspapers before joining CAIR.