#Palestine / Israeli media's complicity in suppressing Palestinian citizens rights

Ailat Grill-Sharath, the Hebrew-language spokesperson for Sikui-Ofuk, an organization working to promote a shared and equitable society between Arab and Jewish citizens in #Israel, writesabout how Israeli media outlets are complicit in the suppression of Palestinian rights. While ostensibly covering the government's dangerous legislative blitz, major news organizations consistently omit or downplay laws specifically targeting the Arab community.

For example, #N12 criticized the legislation but ignored laws defined under "supporting terror," while #Calcalist warned of the judicial overhaul without mentioning the word "Arab." This selective reporting hides the true aim: to erase the Arab community as a legitimate minority. A proposed amendment to the Basic Law: The Knesset, designed to lower Arab voter turnout, exemplifies this biased coverage.

Analysis by Sikui-Ofuk and The Seventh Eye revealed that while the media described the amendment as a "correction/expansion of grounds for disqualification," it was referred to as a "law for disqualifying/removing supporters of terror" in discussions and interviews, ignoring the severe impact on a fifth of the country's citizens and the undermining of democracy.

Other laws aim to expel students and lecturers deemed "supporters of terror" from academic institutions, violating freedom of speech. A further proposal allows arrests for "incitement to terror" without prosecutorial approval, further enabling political persecution. Arab representation in Hebrew media is at a record low of 1.3% in 2023, reflecting the existing Jewish supremacy. The media must actively challenge this narrative and defend the Arab community, protecting democracy for all.

Hebrew https://www.mekomit.co.il/%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%A0%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%A4%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%A6%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%AA-%D7%A4%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%94/

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[cont'd] The Israeli press is failing in its duty in covering the war in Gaza

The media, especially the news channels, are creating a black hole in Israelis' worldview. So there is a disconnect between how Israelis perceive the conflict and how it is viewed internationally, with Israelis struggling to understand the "sudden hatred" against them worldwide. Potential Israeli explanations range from the world forgetting the events of October 7th to ... yes, #antisemitism.

Over at "The Seventh Eye" (investigative online magazine dedicated to journalism and the media) Chen Egri writes that the real reason is that Israelis are largely unaware of the massive humanitarian disaster and civilian casualties in Gaza due to lack of media coverage on the issue. All major Israeli outlets except #Haaretz are ignoring basic facts about Palestinian deaths, injuries, displacement, etc.

This lack of knowledge creates an "unexplained gap" between international condemnation of #Israel's actions and how Israelis view the situation through the limited lens provided to them of defeating Hamas and Palestinian militancy.

[...] If in online and print journalism it is still possible to find some articles and reports on the civilian reality in Gaza, in television news channels, the main source of news information for Israelis, the situation is appalling. Channel 12 News, the news monopoly watched by most Israelis, refuses to report on the situation in Gaza.

[...] On the fundamentalist Channel 14 website, a counter of "the terrorists we have eliminated" is still prominently displayed. At the time of publishing this column, it stands at 34,971. Most of them, even according to #IDF estimates, were civilians who did not participate in the fighting. Like Hamas, Channel 14 also does not distinguish between infants and fighters. The counter on the N12 website does not wallow in bloodlust like Channel 14, but only shows the number of Hamas militants killed. Civilians are simply not mentioned.

[...] A search on the #N12 website yields a single-digit number of articles on what is happening in the Strip since the outbreak of the war, and even those mostly focus on the resentment of #Gaza residents towards #Hamas and the disaster it has brought upon them, with headlines like "Channel 12 News camera in Gaza: What do the Strip's youth think about Hamas?" What do the Strip's youth think about Israel? Channel 12 News does not address Israel's part in the situation of the Gaza Strip and its residents, or even simply the situation itself.

[Hebrew] https://www.the7eye.org.il/519415

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