Mainstream Media: Killing Israelis is Terrorism, but Killing Arabs is Genius!
A racist double standard is blinding us to the potential for a Middle Eastern war.
Almost a year ago, the Palestinian resistance launched its infamous October 7th attack, killing approximately 1,139 Israelis. While the operation targeted military bases and personnel, some militants committed war crimes by attacking civilians at nearby kibbutzes and a musical festival. While killing non-combatants is inexcusable, the extent of these acts was greatly exaggerated by Israel and its Western allies. Taking its cues from the IDF, the American press and the President promoted untrue claims of Palestinians “burning babies alive” and weaponizing mass sexual assault. This propaganda push manufactured consent for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and is still used by Israel’s defenders as a justification for every Zionist aggression. Every critique or question about Israel’s indiscriminate attack on civilians (such as the one posed to the White House Press Secretary below) is retorted with, “Well, on October 7th…”
However, when the shoe is on the other foot, the mainstream media expresses little sympathy for innocents. When Israel kills Arab civilians, not only is there far less concern from American newsrooms than when an Israeli is killed but there’s an aura of celebration and awe for Israel’s capacity for murder.
Strikes in Lebanon
Last week, Israel carried out a coordinated bombing in Lebanon by booby-trapping consumer electronic devices. Using a Hungarian shell company, Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, manufactured and distributed pagers and handheld radios filled with high explosives. The devices were then sold to Hezbollah and simultaneously detonated in a two-wave strike, which former CIA Director Leon Panetta called “a form of terrorism.”
The first wave set off explosives in pagers, while the second detonated walkie-talkie bombs. In an act of unspeakable inhumanity, the second explosion was activated during the funerals for those killed in the first attack, including one for Fatima Abdullah, a nine-year-old girl. You can see the coordinated explosions in this video from the BBC.
The attacks killed at least 37 people (including another child besides Fatima), wounded thousands, and were the opening blow in Israel’s staggering bombing campaign of heavily populated civilian areas. The video below shows the rubble of an apartment building, bombed by the Israeli Air Force in hopes of killing one combatant.
As I write, an updated casualty count has come in from Lebanon: 274 deaths and 1,246 wounded, including at least 24 children and 39 women.1 The actual figure is likely much higher. While American media has tried to excuse Israel’s attacks as “self-defense,” the illegality of Israel’s tactics is undisputed.
The use of booby traps, defined as explosives that are “likely to attract civilians,” is a war crime.2 This classification was intended to save children like Fatima, who picked up her father’s beeping pager.3 The device exploded in her hands, killing her.
Given the continued prevalence of October 7th’s victims in the American press, one would expect similar sympathy would be extended to Arab populations facing far higher death tolls. *Surprisingly*, the very media outlets that spent the last year repeatedly condemning the loss of Israeli lives have shown no such regard when the victims are Arab. (*heavy sarcasm)
An “Extraordinary Act”
No media outlet did more to promote the false narrative of weaponized sexual assault on October 7th than The New York Times. In its now-debunked article entitled “Screams Without Words,” the Times hired an Israeli food blogger to interview Zionist agencies and the Israeli Army, printing their testimonies unscrutinized as if they were fact. Since then, the Times and many other pro-Israel outlets have scorned the pro-Palestine movement for allegedly overlooking the Israeli civilians killed.
Yet when it is Arab civilians who are killed, The New York Times covers it like the welcomed launch of a new iPhone. Its article on Israel’s booby traps ploy entitled “Pager Attacks Highlights Tension Between Israel’s Technical Might and Strategic Fog” fawns over the supposed brilliance and cunning ability of Mossad, giving little attention to the Lebanese lives shattered by the assault. While The New York Times went out of its way to falsely accuse the Palestinian resistance of premeditating sexual war crimes, when Israel commits an actual planned war crime, it’s a testament to their “technical might.”
But the double standard isn’t limited to the paper of record. CNN called the bombs “audacious,” while Foreign Policy glazed Mossad, writing, “They (the bombs) demonstrate, once again, the extraordinary skill of Israeli intelligence.” Never to be outdone, National Review wrote, “Israeli Intelligence is Amazing.” Maybe they’ll start running tourism ads for apartheid Israel, as they did for South Africa.
Inside the bizzaro world of America’s most prominent newsrooms, Israel blowing a child’s face off with an internationally banned weapon is an “extraordinary act.” But when anyone with a skin tone darker than an egg shell fights back against such acts, well, they’re a terrorist. I’d laugh if it weren’t so heinously racist.
Given this outrageous double standard, it’d be expected I would call these media figures hypocrites. But this isn’t hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who acts against their beliefs. Despite their earlier condemnations of attacks on Israeli civilians, the reporters who fondly praise Israel’s war crimes don’t believe civilians should be protected. They believe some civilians should be protected, namely Israelis, Americans, and citizens of other predominantly-White nations. So, no, they’re not hypocrites. They’re racists.
Lost beneath the abhorrent praise heaped on Israel’s military is the real story, the one an honest media culture would be reporting on vigorously. Israel’s latest attacks are yet another attempt to provoke Hezbollah and Iran into a regional war. The U.S. increased its troop levels in the region to 40,000, indicating it would enter the conflict if Israel got its wish.4 In such chaos, Israel will have the opportunity to seize coveted land from its neighbors (as it stole the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967) and ethnically cleanse the inhabitants in pursuit of establishing its desired empire of “Eretz Israel.”
(You can read more about the Zionist desire for regional colonization here.)
Alerting Americans to the danger of a full-fledged war in the Middle East should be the top priority of our media. Unfortunately, they are resigned to shepard the interests of the military industrial complex into the mainstream, parroting the same anti-Arab racism, Islamaphobia, and falsehoods they did during the War on Terror.
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/9/23/israel-hezbollah-conflict-live-new-air-strikes-target-lebanon
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule80
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lebanon-pager-explosions-fatima-abdullah-child_n_66eaf4e0e4b00648275b899b
https://apnews.com/article/israel-lebanon-violence-war-hezbollah-63a15fa390a94acf46ef886cc5fb88db
I see you caught a troll with your article. It amazes me that there are people who still believe the MSM's one-sided, cartoon-level, narrative. Thanks for your clarity.
The best thing Pope Francis could ever do is to go to Gaza, or now, to the West Bank. Make his stand in Bethlehem. Or now, perhaps to Beirut. The opportunities to take a stand for righteousness is ever expanding. He has an opportunity that is unequalled, to say "no" to genocide. Not in our name, not on our watch.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/gkvBfY44rq
As Johnny Rotten asked from the stage at the end of the Sex Pistols last show, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
That's how I feel about the Fourth Estate. Do your job!