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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Propaganda Blitz: How Mainstream Media Is Pushing Fake Palestine Stories</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">October 13, 2023 - <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/alan-macleod/">Alan Macleod </a>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>After
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, IDF forces responded with
airstrikes, leveling Gazan buildings. The violence so far has claimed
the lives of more than 2,500 people. Western media, however, show far
more interest and have much greater sympathy with Israeli dead than
Palestinian ones and have played their usual role as unofficial
spokespersons for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).</p>
<h2>Extraordinary Claims, Zero Evidence</h2>
<p>One case in point is the claim that, during their incursion into
southern Israel, Hamas fighters stopped to round up, kill and mutilate
40 Israeli babies, beheading them and leaving their bodies behind.</p>
<p>The extraordinary assertion was originally reported by the Israeli
channel i24 News, which based it on anonymous Israeli military sources.
Despite offering no proof whatsoever, this highly inflammatory claim
about an enemy made by an active participant in a conflict was picked up
and repeated across the world by a host of media (e.g., in the United
States by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/40-babies-some-beheaded-found-israel-soldiers-hamas-attacked-village" target="_blank">Fox News</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1711735223182835723" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/hamas-murdered-40-babies-including-beheadings-israel-reports/ar-AA1hZG5G" target="_blank">MSN</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/idf-says-hamas-decapitated-babies-in-israel-2023-10?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/hamas-kills-40-babies-and-children-beheading-some-of-them-at-israeli-kibbutz-report/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a>).</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the front pages of the United Kingdom’s largest newspapers were <a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1712012544406122918" target="_blank">festooned</a> with the story, the press outraged at the atrocity and inviting their readers to feel the same way.</p>
<p>Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence, and a
story like this should have been met with serious skepticism, given who
was making the claim. The first question any reporter should have asked
was, “Where is the evidence?” Given multiple opportunities to stand by
it, the IDF continually distanced itself from the claims. Nevertheless,
the story was simply too useful not to publish.</p>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Hamas-Babies.png" alt="Media across the western world were quick to run headlines stirring outrage over the unsubstantiated claims" width="392" height="392" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Media across the western world were quick to run headlines stirring outrage over the unsubstantiated claims
<p>The decapitated baby narrative was so popular that even President
Biden referenced it, claiming to have seen “confirmed” images of Hamas
killing children. This claim, however, was hastily <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/white-house-walks-back-bidens-claim-he-saw-children-beheaded-by-hamas" target="_blank">retracted</a> by his handlers at the White House, who noted that Biden was simply referencing the i24 News report.</p>
<p>The story looked even more like a piece of cheap propaganda after it was <a href="https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/11/beheaded-israeli-babies-settler-wipe-out-palestinian/" target="_blank">revealed</a>
that the key source for the claim was Israeli soldier David Ben Zion,
an extremist settler who had incited race riots against Palestinians
earlier this year, describing them as “animals” with no heart who needs
to be “wiped out.”</p>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/photo_2023-10-13_12-57-42.jpg" alt="David Ben Zion" width="392" height="344" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">David
Ben Zion in a video from a settlement construction site (left) and
hours after he told i24 the IDF had found babies beheaded by Hamas
(right). Credit | The GrayZone
<p>Manipulating the U.S. public into supporting the war by feeding them
atrocity propaganda about mutilating babies has a long history. In 1990,
for instance, a girl purporting to be a local nurse was brought before
Congress, where she testified that Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein’s men
had ripped hundreds of Kuwaiti babies from their incubators and left
them to die. The story helped whip the American public up into a pro-war
fervor. It was later revealed that it was a complete hoax dreamed up by
a public relations firm.</p>
<h2>The Murdered Girl Who Came Back to Life</h2>
<p>Another piece of blatantly fake news is the case of Shani Louk. Louk
attended the Supernova Festival, ambushed by Hamas. It was widely
reported that Hamas murdered her (e.g., <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12606553/Female-Israeli-soldier-killed-Hamas-paraded-truck-actually-German-tattoo-artist-30-attending-music-festival-devastated-family-say-nightmare.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>, <a href="https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/10/10/6524b443268e3e16778b4574.html" target="_blank">Marca</a>, <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/shani-louk-disturbing-development-after-festivalgoers-naked-body-paraded-through-streets-224534369.html" target="_blank">Yahoo! News</a>, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/10/09/israel-festival-shani-louk-have-fun-last-video-kidnapped-murdered-war-attack-hamas-palestine/" target="_blank">TMZ</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/credit-card-shani-louk-naked-paraded-hamas-israel-palestine-gaza-2023-10?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>),
stripped her, and paraded her naked body trophy-like through the
streets on the back of a truck. Louk’s case incited global anger and
calls for an overwhelming Israeli military response.</p>
<p>There was only one problem: Louk was later confirmed to be alive and
in hospital, a fact that suggests the videos of her on the back of a
truck were actually images of people saving her life by taking her to
seek medical assistance.</p>
<p>Few of the outlets irresponsibly publishing these wildly incendiary
stories have printed apologies or even retractions. The Los Angeles
Times was one exception: after publishing a report claiming that
Palestinians had raped Israeli civilians, it later <a href="https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1711802752869740715" target="_blank">informed</a> readers that “such reports have not been substantiated.”</p>
<h2>Lionizing Israel, Dehumanizing Palestinians</h2>
<p>Few readers, however, see these retractions. Instead, they are left
with visceral feelings of anger and disgust towards Hamas, priming them
to support Western military action against Palestine or the wider
region.</p>
<p>In case their audiences did not get the message, op-eds and
editorials in major newspapers hammered home this idea. The Wall Street
Journal ran an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-moral-duty-to-destroy-hamas-ba626a41" target="_blank">op-ed</a>
entitled “The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas”, which insisted to readers
that “Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil,
depraved culture that resides next to it.” Thus, the outlet implicitly
gave Israel a free pass to carry out whatever war crimes it wished on
the civilian population, whether that is using banned chemical weapons,
cutting off electricity and water, or targeting ambulances or United
Nations officials.</p>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BBC-Bias-Israel.png" alt="BBC Bias Israel" width="392" height="392" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">The
BBC told its readers that Israelis have been “killed” while people in
Gaza merely “died,” removing any agency from its perpetrators and almost
suggesting their deaths were natural
<p>The National Review’s editorial board was of a similar mind, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/israel-needs-a-long-leash-to-destroy-hamas/" target="_blank">stating</a>
that “Israel needs a long leash to destroy Hamas.” This long leash,
they explained, meant giving Israel far more time to carry out the
destruction of Gaza. Western leaders would have to refrain from
criticizing Israel or calling for calm and peace.</p>
<p>The message was clear: international unity was paramount at this
time. Mere trifles such as war crimes must be overlooked. And while
Israel and its people were treated with special sympathy (e.g., <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-americans/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>),
the other side was written off as bloodthirsty radicals. While the
phrase “Palestinian terrorists” could be found across the media spectrum
(e.g., <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-lets-lawsuit-claiming-biden-admin-knew-us-funds-aiding-palestinian-terrorists-move-forward" target="_blank">Fox News</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/11/hamas-palestinian-terrorists-raised-nearly-100m-in-crypto/" target="_blank">New York Post</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-war-hamas-deaths-killings.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>),
its opposite, “Israeli terrorists” was completely absent from corporate
media. This, despite casualties on the Palestinian side outnumbering
Israelis.</p>
<p>Underlining the fact that Israeli lives are deemed more important is
the way in which deaths from each side are reported. The BBC, for
example, <a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1711462615963045898" target="_blank">told</a>
its readers that Israelis have been “killed” while people in Gaza
merely “died,” removing any agency from its perpetrators and almost
suggesting their deaths were natural.</p>
<h2>Context-Free Violence</h2>
<p>Missing from most of the reporting was the basic factual background
of the attack. Few articles mentioned that Israel was built upon an
existing Palestinian state, and that most of the inhabitants of Gaza are
descended from refugees ethnically cleansed from southern Israel in
order to make way for a Jewish state. Also left unmentioned was that
Israel controls almost every aspect of Gazan’s life. This includes
deciding who can enter or leave the densely populated strip and limiting
the import of food, medicine and other crucial goods. Aid groups have
called Gaza “the world’s largest open-air prison.” The United Nations
has <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/gaza-unliveable-un-special-rapporteur-for-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt-tells-third-committee-press-release-excerpts/" target="_blank">declared</a> the conditions in Gaza to be so bad as to be unlivable.</p>
<p>One of the principal reasons that this crucial context is not given
is that it could influence Western audiences into sympathizing with
Palestinians or supporting Palestinian liberation. Giant media
corporations are largely owned by wealthy oligarchs or by transnational
corporations, both of whom have a stake in preserving the status quo and
neither of whom wish to see national liberation movements succeed.</p>
<p>Some media outlets make this explicit. Axel Springer – the enormous German broadcaster that owns <i>Politico</i> – requires its employees to sign its mission statement endorsing “the trans-Atlantic alliance and Israel” and has <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-axel-springer-tells-staff-quit-anti" target="_blank">told</a> any staff members that support Palestine to leave their jobs.</p>
<p>Other outlets are slightly less overt but nonetheless have Israel red lines that employees cannot cross. CNN <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2018/12/9/the-six-words-that-got-marc-lamont-hill-fired-from-cnn" target="_blank">fired</a> anchor Marc Lamont Hill for calling for a free Palestine. Katie Halper was <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/10/hill-rising-katie-halper-israel-palestine-fired" target="_blank">fired</a> from The Hill for (<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114702" target="_blank">accurately</a>) calling Israel an Apartheid state. The Associated Press <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/21/associated-press-emily-wilder-fired-pro-palestinian-views" target="_blank">dismissed</a> Emily Wilder after it became known that she had been a pro-Palestine activist during her college years. And The Guardian <a href="https://reason.com/2021/02/10/nathan-robinson-the-guardian-israel-tweet-joke-column/" target="_blank">sacked</a>
Nathan J. Robinson after he made a joke mocking US military aid to
Israel. These cases serve as examples to the rest of the journalistic
world. The message is that one cannot criticize the Israeli government’s
violent apartheid system or show solidarity for Palestine without
risking losing their livelihoods.</p>
<p>Ultimately, then, corporate media play a key role in maintaining the
occupation by manipulating public opinion. If the American people were
aware of the history and the reality of Israel/Palestine, the situation
would be untenable. For those wishing to maintain the unequal state of
affairs whereby an apartheid government expels or imprisons its
indigenous population, the pen is as important as the sword.</p>
<p>Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Alan MacLeod</a> </strong>is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Bad-News-from-Venezuela-Twenty-years-of-fake-news-and-misreporting/Macleod/p/book/9781138489233" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting</a> and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Propaganda-in-the-Information-Age-Still-Manufacturing-Consent-1st-Edition/MacLeod/p/book/9781138366404?fbclid=IwAR2xQQWJd98C25wapG4ynmlEnGvL5wxG_mp5RwpBwtwPDxInjNZ1Oo7KD-E" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent</a>, as well as <a href="https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/65/56" rel="noopener" target="_blank">a</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306396818823639#articleShareContainer" rel="noopener" target="_blank">number</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/blar.12940" rel="noopener" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00064/full" rel="noopener" target="_blank">academic</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920518820934" rel="noopener" target="_blank">articles</a>. He has also contributed to <a href="https://fair.org/author/alan-macleod/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">FAIR.org</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/writer/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Salon</a>, <a href="https://thegrayzone.com/author/alan-macleod/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Grayzone</a>, <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/author/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jacobin Magazine</a>, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/alan-macleod" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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