ABD-ELHAMEED: Continuous demonization of Palestinian resistance in mainstream media makes me sick
Column: Something to Think About
I opened Instagram this past Saturday to the news that Israel formally declared war against Hamas — a Palestinian militant organization — that launched surprise attacks on Israel.
My Instagram feed was soon flooded with headlines from activist and student organizations to mainstream news outlets and non-profit news organizations.
The more posts that I came across, the more infuriated I felt. This past Saturday, it was all I could think about. It is still all I can think about and all I want to write about.
More specifically, I want to write about the fact that the continuous demonization of Palestinians in the mainstream media makes me sick to my stomach. At first, I wanted to avoid writing about this because, for some reason, discussing Palestine and Israel is considered a touchy subject or too controversial.
Right now, I do not really care.
These past couple of days, media coverage of this situation has been overwhelming, to say the least. Every time I open Instagram, I am met with new photos or video footage of buildings collapsing or news correspondents taking cover from airstrikes and explosions in the region.
Almost every single one of these photos or videos is accompanied by a headline and caption that states in some way that Israel is "under attack" and that this attack was "unprovoked." The hilariously hypocritical thing about this rhetoric, though, is that Israel is being met with decades-long worth of resistance to Israeli occupation that is rooted in Zionist ideology.
In simple terms, Palestinians are under attack every single day and are barely given even a second of airtime on mainstream media. By default, mainstream media dehumanizes and ignores the Palestinian plight while normalizing and glorifying Zionist ideology, and it is infuriating.
Why is it that Ukrainians are deemed "heroes" when resisting Russian occupation, but Palestinians are portrayed as "terrorists" when resisting Israeli occupation and apartheid?
It is quite literally disgusting to see the way the U.S. gives nothing but unequivocal support for Ukrainians, the occupied, while providing the same unequivocal support for the occupier, Israel.
Let us now take a look at what a handful of mainstream media coverage looks like, shall we?
CNN posted a clip on its Instagram featuring anchor Christiane Amanpour discussing a hostage incident with the headline, "Video appears to show Israeli woman taken hostage." Footage is then shown of an Israeli woman being forced into a black Jeep as Amanpour details the woman's condition.
To justify whether this action is right or wrong is not the point. Where was this same coverage when the Israeli Defense Forces continuously took Palestinians as hostages? Where was CNN then?
Comments on this Instagram post, among many others, are flooded with support for Israel. One user comments, "How about when Israeli(s) kidnap Palestinian children?" As you would expect, other users were in the comments attacking this woman for pointing out this double standard.
Do you want another example? Do not worry, there are plenty of them. Here is one from The New York Times.
The New York Times posted a collection of photos from Gaza titled "Gaza Militants Fire Rockets and Enter Israel In Surprise Assault." The caption for this post is incredibly long and includes very bold language.
The caption says, "Israel battled" and refers to the attack as "the broadest invasions of its territory in 50 years" and as an "enormous and coordinated early-morning assault." The phrase "Israel had retaliated" is also included further down in the caption.
Israel is an oppressor, and Palestinians are the oppressed, so no, there is no battle within the region because that would entail that there are two sides to an equal fight.
The caption said Israel repelled the largest-scale invasion in 50 years. This one is almost quite funny since Israel has been invading and taking over Palestine for much longer than 50 years.
Israel "retaliated" with airstrikes? You mean to tell me that Israel — which has one of the most powerful militaries in the world — can "retaliate" against the people that they are oppressing?
Unfortunately, this article has a word count limit. Otherwise, I would keep going. This coverage infuriates me so much to the point where I even wrote a 44-page research project over the summer that analyzes Western coverage of the Palestinian uprisings. And my project is still a work in progress.
If you missed my point, here it is: Where were CNN and The New York Times when Israel was bulldozing Palestinian schools or when the Israeli military invaded the city of Jenin with airstrikes last month? Where were they when Israeli soldiers shoved an elderly Palestinian woman to the ground? Where were they when Israeli soldiers shot Palestinian Labib Dumedi in the heart and then invaded his funeral? Where were they?
I am not one to end any body of work with a quote because it is typically cliche, but this is one I need to share. Here is what Malcolm X once said:
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people being oppressed and loving those doing the oppressing."
Naaima Abd-Elhameed is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in journalism and media studies and minoring in Arabic and international and global studies. Her column, "Something to Think About," runs on alternate Mondays.
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