Following multiple incidents of Al Aqsa Mosque attack on 10th May, Israel has been receiving wide ranging criticism. Simultaneously, many media groups that reported the news incorrectly faced equal level of criticism. The videos of Israeli settlers bullying Palestinians were making rounds on social media for the whole week. Yet, the Israeli media, most of western media, and many popular personalities played distraction tactics to hide the actual facts from the news. The case of Sheikh Jarrah is a perfect example about how media works, which is only to milk several situations by beating around the bush rather than providing conclusive outcome based on investigation.
It was a shameful moment for these big media houses that the public turned out to be more informative and reasonable than them. Sadly, whenever serious conflict between Israel and Palestine escalates, the western media always presents biased reports due to being friends with Israel. Despite the detailed report by Human Rights Watch, media continues to erase Israel’s one-sided oppression on Palestinians. Social media found this blatant hypocrisy very disturbing given the current situation in the occupied region.
Difference Between Al Aqsa Mosque Attack and Terrorist Attack
Even the media conglomerates in third world country like Pakistan were also hesitant to report the incidents like they were. Pakistani public was quick to troll one of the nation’s most reputed newspaper for its biased reporting. People had problem with media using the word “clash” to describe what was going on in Jerusalem. They recommended the use of proper word which media conveniently associated with Muslims everywhere; terrorism.
Media also stayed biased in not calling Al Aqsa Mosque attack terrorism but quickly used the word terrorists for a local militant group Hamas, when it fired rocket in response to Israeli forces’ stampede on unarmed civilians. Hamas is leading an equally violent resistance against Israeli occupation forces, that retaliates after every oppressive maneuver of Israel.
Omission of Facts
A video was going viral on social media in which an Israeli car driver was seen hitting a side walker deliberately. After that a police officer came to protect the Israeli driver and pointing his gun at unarmed Palestinians instead checking up on the Palestinian that Israeli hit. One of the largest news agencies in the world mentioned the incident but omitted critical facts without which the news seems totally biased in the favor of Israel. Social media users shared the video again to encourage media in using proper vocabulary to report incidents.
Here is everything that happened at Al Aqsa Mosque attack.
Trivializing the Palestinian Issue
Every time after attacking Palestinians in occupied territories, Israel got away by labelling it as self-defense. Israel has this benefit due to of lack of media coverage in the region, which usually results in the public accepting whatever the state-backed media channels show. Rest of the media also contributes in the distraction from various evil deeds that get unnoticed like the eviction of Palestinians from their homes. The below video was extremely viral and even US lawmakers shared it days ago but the media still found other news more interesting than that. The video showed Israeli settler with a Brooklyn accent forcefully occupying the house of one Palestinian family.
Is It Really Complicated for Media to Report Israel News as it is?
Many journalists wondered if the weird behavior of media regarding the particular news of Palestine is powered by super powers of the world. As the reports of attack on Palestinians started coming, the US was heavily questioned about its foreign policy regarding Israel. The US is a great friend of Israel and upon investigation, its spokesperson Ned Price became hesitant to condemn Israel’s attack on Al Aqsa Mosque while civilians were praying. He even failed to recognize Palestine as a state and also did not acknowledge that Palestine can have right to defend itself just like Israel does.
