“How have media representations and narratives influenced international perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to what extent do these representations impact global public opinion?”

Laura albast, cat Knarr. “How media coverage whitewashes Israeli state violence against Palestinians”. The Washington post, April 28, 2022 

The article discusses how Western media coverage tends to downplay Israeli state violence against Palestinians. It points out that words like “clashes” and “tensions” are used to describe situations where there’s a significant power imbalance between Israeli military forces and Palestinian civilians. The piece suggests that when the media uses these types of words, it makes it seem like both sides in the conflict are equal, even though there’s a big difference in power between the Israeli military and the Palestinian people. This way of talking about the conflict also tends to support views that are against Palestinians. The article then goes on to talk about how the media portrays conflicts like the one in Ukraine, and clearly calls out the aggressor, which is Russia, the Ukrainian people are shown as resisting. The article then argues when it comes to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict the aggressor is not usually pointed out. The article also emphasizes the important of language and context in reporting, pointing out that Palestinians are subjected to an unjust and unequal system. It calls out journalists to clearly identify the aggressor, the action they took, and who it was against in their reporting. the article then concludes by saying that media outlets need to hire Palestinian journalists and to center Palestinian voices in their reporting, to provide a more complete and accurate narrative.  

I personally agree with the article. I’ve noticed it myself when seeing the conflict being talked about on western media compared to when I’m watching “al Jazeera “(middle eastern news) I find that I get informed way more about how Palestinian’s. Western media outlets tend to make the oppressor look oppressed. Even though the conflict just became a bigger issue it’s always been like that the western media never covered the real story and fully disregarding that the historical context of occupation and displacement of the Palestinians