Recent articles in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam criticize the coverage of the Gaza war on Arab news channels, especially on the Qatari Al-Jazeera network. They state that Al-Jazeera has for years been establishing a false perception of Hamas as a major Palestinian force that can defeat Israel, while also presenting Israel as weak and the Gazans as people who are willing to endure endless suffering and to sacrifice themselves for the sake of victory. Moreover, Al-Jazeera and channels like it use tactics of intimidation and inflate or downplay events to suit their agendas, the articles say. For example, they hire retired Arab generals to sell the viewers illusions that do not reflect the true situation in Gaza and thus neutralize the viewers' ability to think for themselves.
The following are translated excerpts from these articles:
Palestinian Journalist: Al-Jazeera Sells The Illusion That Hamas Is Beating Israel
Journalist Abd Al-Ghani Salameh attacked Al-Jazeera and its coverage of the Gaza war in two articles in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. He writes that this channel has long been depicting Hamas' officials as wise and scrupulous leaders and the organization itself as a massive military force that is ready for a lengthy war, which Israel will not be able to withstand, while stressing that the Gazans are willing to sacrifice themselves for Hamas' goals. Salameh directed similar criticism at Roya TV, an independent Jordanian channel, for presenting Hamas and the Gazans as robust and ready for war. He also came out against social media users who celebrate Israel's alleged defeat and spread religious discourse that sanctifies death.
Salameh wrote: "The importance of the media as a weapon equivalent to [weapons of] war is no secret… Those who prepared the [Al-Aqsa] Flood [attack] relied on the media to incite the public. Israel, since its inception, has also relied on the media to subdue and control the peoples of the region. All the parties involved in the events use the media to further their agendas…
"Before the aggression [i.e., the Gaza war], Al-Jazeera, the most prominent channel, spent years establishing a specific image of Palestine that can be summed up as follows: the Palestinian issue is [synonymous with] the issue of Gaza; resistance is [represented] solely by Hamas; the leaders of Hamas are paragons of wisdom and knowledge, who know everything and plan their actions with calculated precision; Hamas is a colossal force that has missile factories, weapon and ammunition depots, a massive army, drones, a military industry, advanced technology, an air force, divers, paratroopers, artillery and an extensive network of tunnels. It has strategic war plans and is fully ready. As for the people of Gaza, they are not like other people: they dedicate themselves to death and sacrifice, and possess extraordinary abilities and strength to endure what others cannot. Every family is portrayed as willing to sacrifice its children and property for the cause of resistance, accepting death with songs and cries of joy, without any difficulty.
"The minute the aggression started, it was portrayed as a conflict between two equal armies, while selling the following delusions: The Israeli army is unable to enter into a ground war; the resistance has amazing surprises [in store for the enemy]; Israel cannot endure a long war; Israel is on the brink of disintegration and collapse due to its internal disagreements; Israel will sustain heavy losses it will not be able to withstand. All this was [marketed] with the help of a team of experts who make a living [spewing] populist sentimental rhetoric – [rhetoric] that pulls at the heartstrings of millions who yearn for victory after centuries of defeats and disappointments. What the viewers fail to realize is that 80-90 percent of what is said on Al-Jazeera is true, accurate and realistic, and that is what makes it popular, along with its immense capabilities and its network of reporters all over [the world]. The problem lies in the 10 percent that is inserted between the lines and which changes, shapes and directs public opinion…
"Another channel that has begun to resemble Al-Jazeera in its inclinations and policy is Jordan's Roya channel… We saw what the Jordanian public has done since the start of the aggression. [There] were mass marches and displays of solidarity [with Gaza], of many kinds, showing that the Jordanians – like all other Arab peoples – care deeply for the Palestinian cause and are willing to sacrifice for it. These mass gatherings and the high morale could have had an impact [on the Gaza war]. But that did not happen, and not because the protests decreased in size or intensity. [It happened] because the protests were steered in other directions that were fundamentally wrong. As usual. this was the doing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which took over the marches, and later also took over the media, especially the Roya [channel].
"The public has been led to believe that the resistance is in good shape, that it is strong and able to endure, so there is no cause for concern and [the public] needs [only] to increase its prayers in order to expedite the obvious victory. [The public was also led to believe] that the people of Gaza have become inured to war and to the situation, and, being unusual people, they are endowed with a superhuman ability to endure suffering, as evident from the fact that [during the war] they hold weddings, share their food and keep their tents clean and tidy. Every [Gazan] interviewed is presented as a hero who ignores the reality around him, is willing to die for the resistance, is devoted to Gaza and is not thinking of emigrating…
Abd Al-Ghani Salameh (Image: Maannews.net)
"This is in addition to the exciting images circulated on social media – of [Israeli] soldiers being sniped at and convoys of [Israeli] tanks being destroyed, and of the invading soldiers quaking [with fear] and facing mental collapse – [images that are presented as] compensation for the immense devastation in Gaza, as well as the [Islamic] religious traditions that sanctify death, [traditions] that see nothing wrong with the loss of 50,000 souls and hold that [the path] to victory must be strewn with the skulls of Gazan children!
"This media policy has not only neutralized hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims, and rendered public action [for Gaza] hollow and ineffective, while also steering it off course. It also provides Israel with all the legal and media excuses it needs to continue the aggression, while decreasing the international pressure that could have forced Israel to end the war…"[1]
Al-Jazeera Toys With The Viewers' Minds
In his second article, Salameh wrote that Al-Jazeera interviews figures who put on an act and sell illusions about the Gaza war that insult the viewers' intelligence:
"When we watch a television series or a movie we identify with the victim and love the hero. We follow [the hero's] actions with avid interest, fear for his fate, weep over the death of his beloved, feel sad when his young son comes down with cancer, and rejoice at the death of the villain… Before we start watching, we are perfectly aware that these are actors. We know that the beloved hero, with his noble virtues and courageous stance, is an ordinary person who, in real life, may be a crook, a coward or a miser, and that the despicable villain, whose death we so eagerly anticipate, may be a good person. We are also fully aware that the bomb will not [actually] blow up… But despite this, while watching, we completely forget that the plot… the deep conversations between the film's characters, and the stories of love, betrayal and sacrifice are all products of the screenwriter's imagination, the cameraman's skill and the director's cleverness…
"In other words, the filmmakers sell you illusions, and you cheerfully buy them, although you are fully aware that they are illusions… I wish to apply this [concept] of suspension of disbelief, [taken from the realm of ] film and literature, to the reality of our lives…
"In real life, [too], actors and directors are everywhere. They take many guises and forms, [including] political analysts on the news and strategic experts on talk shows. Some preach from the pulpit on Fridays or Sundays and some deliver speeches to angry crowds at marches and protests. Some dominate the shows about religion and history on the satellite channels, bearing titles like 'the honorable So-and-So,' 'Prof. So-and-So,' 'His Excellency Sheikh So-and So,' 'expert,' 'military commander,' 'intellectual' and 'party head'…
"They address the audience just like Hollywood's greatest directors – with implicit and explicit messages and using the same methods of simulating emotions, urges and fears and exploiting human weaknesses. But they completely deny that they are just directors or actors, and we, for our part, completely deny that we turn off our minds… when we trust them and ask them to think for us, so they can control our decisions and actions and shape our consciousness as they please. This is exactly what Al-Jazeera has been doing in its coverage of the Gaza war. And this is what we have done to ourselves: turned off our minds."[2]
Palestinian Journalist: The Arab Channels Sell The Illusion That Israel Is Being Defeated In Gaza
Palestinian journalist Tawfiq Abu Shumar wrote in a similar vein in his column in Al-Ayyam. He criticized television channels for falsely presenting Gaza as a large and powerful state capable of defeating Israel, and Israel itself as a country on the brink of collapse.
Tawfiq Abu Shumar (Image: X.com/Tawmar)
He wrote: "…One of the gravest changes made to the principles of media involves disregarding the basic [requirement] of media credibility…
"One of the most heinous media practices that became clearly evident during the war of extermination taking place in Gaza is the exploitation of the events to serve the policy of the [specific] media outlet, satellite channel or media network. This is done by committing the gravest possible media crime: that of inflating or minimizing [events]! The policy of inflating the media message involves turning the spotlight on some event that serves the satellite channel's agenda and inflating it through [tactics of] intimidation and exaggeration – and that is exactly what has happened in Gaza. The media turned the Gaza Strip into a large militarized state, instead of a small occupied city. Gaza was said to be on the brink of destroying Israel, and, in the spirit of this exaggeration, it was [even said to be] threatening world peace with its advanced weapons. To increase the exaggeration, these media outlets devoted all their time to the coverage of the events that fuel [the exaggeration]!...
"To complete the policy of media inflation, many outlets hired retired generals to perform the role of inflation and thus achieve the [outlet's] goal. They divided the Gaza Strip, which is smaller than many small cities around the world, into large military commands reminiscent of the commands in European countries during World War II: the northern command and the southern command, knowing that the distance between the two in Gaza is less than 50 meters…
To complete the policy of inflation the media also deliberately did the opposite. That is, they minimized the other side, Israel, by claiming it is about to collapse and is soon to be wiped off [the map]… They deployed their battalions of reporters on the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Safed to cover the stormy protests in Israel against Netanyahu and his government. They also focused on the disputes between Israel and the U.S. and gave priority to [covering] the high-ranking [Israeli] military officers who rebelled [against the government] – in words not in deeds – in order to support the [policy] of minimization. All this gives the impression that Israel's military is on the brink of complete collapse!...
"We must not reach a state of frustration and despair [just because] the [policy of] inflation and minimization has a severe effect on us all. When the events are over, the dreamers will awaken and then the inflaters and minimizers will come down with the disease of hatred for the homeland and a wish to emigrate."[3]
