Berl Falbaum
In my last column, I wrote that I would examine the unconscionable, one-sided coverage of Israel in its war with Hamas. While this is a complex subject and deserves much more space than a political column allows, I will deal with one issue — but I believe it is a major one.
We’ll begin with a hypothetical:
A journalist goes into Gaza to research an in-depth piece on Hamas, covering its oppression of Gazans, corruption, infighting among its leaders and plans to seek the reactions from Gazans, including those critical of the terrorist organization.
What do you think would happen to the journalist and the Gazans who had the courage to go public with their opinions?
Exactly. And that is a part of the story that has never been told, leading to the distorted coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
The media cannot even report that they cannot cover this part of the story for fear, literally, of their lives.
After the ceasefire, Hamas publicly executed more than 30 Gazans who they believed were critical of the organization or collaborated with Israel.
Does anyone believe that “Palestinian journalists” that major news organizations hire as stringers would file stories critical of Hamas?
That reality, of course, is not new. The same was true during the Yasser Arafat era when journalists, feeling threatened, failed to report critically of him and his terrorist organization. And the intimidation need not be overt; a word here-and-there is sufficient to “instruct” the press “to use good judgment.” Indeed, terrorists such as Arafat and Hamas members need not say anything at all.
Here is what the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs said about Arafat’s control of the media:
“Most foreign correspondents, and particularly local Palestinian stringers who report from the West Bank and Gaza for Jerusalem-based foreign bureaus, operate under an unspoken [note “unspoken”] but firm set of rules. They avoid reporting stories involving wide-spread human rights abuses, high-level corruption, financial mismanagement, and violence between Palestinians groups that could be embarrassing to Arafat and senior Palestinians officials.”
Journalists understand the consequences they would face if they offend terrorists as do Gazans who, when they do speak up, ask reporters not to photograph them or use their names.
(There were many interviews with directors of hospitals in Gaza — both in person and on cell phones — who told reporters Hamas was nowhere to be seen. Did the reporters really believe they would acknowledge that terrorists were in the building or in tunnels below?)
For instance, I read about 10 media reports on the latest Gaza Health Ministry (read Hamas) report that the death toll of Palestinians has allegedly reached 70,000. None of the reports I read even questioned the number; nary a word that the data might be suspect. A terrorist organization that beheaded civilians, burned them alive, and gang-raped women on October 7, certainly would not lie.
Moreover, most stories I read made no distinction between deaths of combatants and civilians, implying all were civilians. Some stories did not even attribute the number; just published it as fact.
Several think tanks and other apolitical organizations did studies on the death toll data and found the numbers “distorted” and “manipulated.” The media did not criticize these findings; they did not report them at all.
And, there was no recognition that in wars, civilians always pay a higher price than combatants. In World War II, while exact figures vary greatly, some 15-20 million combatants died compared to 30-45 million civilians.
Which brings us to Rami Aman, a Gaza peace activist who was imprisoned by Hamas for six months in 2020, yet refuses to remain silent. Here are some of his observations and comments from an interview in mid-September.
Aman said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as well as Amnesty International are frequently depicted by the media as neutral humanitarian organizations but actually work closely with Hamas. He charged that Hamas has control over UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza and it was an Amnesty International researcher who had Hamas arrest him. Here is more:
• “On April 8, 2020, Amnesty International researcher Hind Khoudary, who is now a popular Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza, publicly called on Hamas to arrest [me] for [my] peace initiatives. So, for me, how come Amnesty is calling for my arrest? How come a journalist asking [Hamas] security to arrest me?
• “UNRWA was one of these organizations that Hamas distributed their leaders inside, and distributed their employees. Because in UNRWA, it’s like a very good salary for them, and it’s not for all people in Gaza. If you are not Hamas, you will not work there.
• “Hamas dominates news coverage in Gaza. From 2011 until 2019, I was organizing…protests against Hamas. In January, I was with other friends calling the people to go to the streets to let Hamas solve the electricity crisis, to let Hamas find for us a job. They shot at us and no media talked about us. Because of what? Because Hamas controlled the media inside Gaza and outside Gaza.
• “You will not find Al Jazeera cover any demonstration in Gaza calling for peace or calling to end the war. But you will find Al Jazeera cameras all over the Israeli community, because they want the pressure that comes from there, from Israel, not from Gaza.
• “Aid stamped ‘not for sale’ by the United Nations is looted by Hamas and sold in markets. [He also blames UNRWA for this violation.] Can you imagine that one cigarette cost $50? One cigarette, $50. So, I think Hamas made a lot of money in the war.
• “Hamas orders come from Iran and Qatar…Hamas loves the wars. Hamas loves if there is no university. Hamas loves if there is no school. Hamas loves if there are no good lives for the people. Hamas loves if we have just tents in Gaza, just people standing in lines and waiting for food and flour. Hamas loves to control the poverty. Hamas loves if there is no kind of life.”
These comments received little, if any attention. The reason, as stated above, is pretty obvious.
We’ll begin with a hypothetical:
A journalist goes into Gaza to research an in-depth piece on Hamas, covering its oppression of Gazans, corruption, infighting among its leaders and plans to seek the reactions from Gazans, including those critical of the terrorist organization.
What do you think would happen to the journalist and the Gazans who had the courage to go public with their opinions?
Exactly. And that is a part of the story that has never been told, leading to the distorted coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
The media cannot even report that they cannot cover this part of the story for fear, literally, of their lives.
After the ceasefire, Hamas publicly executed more than 30 Gazans who they believed were critical of the organization or collaborated with Israel.
Does anyone believe that “Palestinian journalists” that major news organizations hire as stringers would file stories critical of Hamas?
That reality, of course, is not new. The same was true during the Yasser Arafat era when journalists, feeling threatened, failed to report critically of him and his terrorist organization. And the intimidation need not be overt; a word here-and-there is sufficient to “instruct” the press “to use good judgment.” Indeed, terrorists such as Arafat and Hamas members need not say anything at all.
Here is what the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs said about Arafat’s control of the media:
“Most foreign correspondents, and particularly local Palestinian stringers who report from the West Bank and Gaza for Jerusalem-based foreign bureaus, operate under an unspoken [note “unspoken”] but firm set of rules. They avoid reporting stories involving wide-spread human rights abuses, high-level corruption, financial mismanagement, and violence between Palestinians groups that could be embarrassing to Arafat and senior Palestinians officials.”
Journalists understand the consequences they would face if they offend terrorists as do Gazans who, when they do speak up, ask reporters not to photograph them or use their names.
(There were many interviews with directors of hospitals in Gaza — both in person and on cell phones — who told reporters Hamas was nowhere to be seen. Did the reporters really believe they would acknowledge that terrorists were in the building or in tunnels below?)
For instance, I read about 10 media reports on the latest Gaza Health Ministry (read Hamas) report that the death toll of Palestinians has allegedly reached 70,000. None of the reports I read even questioned the number; nary a word that the data might be suspect. A terrorist organization that beheaded civilians, burned them alive, and gang-raped women on October 7, certainly would not lie.
Moreover, most stories I read made no distinction between deaths of combatants and civilians, implying all were civilians. Some stories did not even attribute the number; just published it as fact.
Several think tanks and other apolitical organizations did studies on the death toll data and found the numbers “distorted” and “manipulated.” The media did not criticize these findings; they did not report them at all.
And, there was no recognition that in wars, civilians always pay a higher price than combatants. In World War II, while exact figures vary greatly, some 15-20 million combatants died compared to 30-45 million civilians.
Which brings us to Rami Aman, a Gaza peace activist who was imprisoned by Hamas for six months in 2020, yet refuses to remain silent. Here are some of his observations and comments from an interview in mid-September.
Aman said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as well as Amnesty International are frequently depicted by the media as neutral humanitarian organizations but actually work closely with Hamas. He charged that Hamas has control over UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza and it was an Amnesty International researcher who had Hamas arrest him. Here is more:
• “On April 8, 2020, Amnesty International researcher Hind Khoudary, who is now a popular Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza, publicly called on Hamas to arrest [me] for [my] peace initiatives. So, for me, how come Amnesty is calling for my arrest? How come a journalist asking [Hamas] security to arrest me?
• “UNRWA was one of these organizations that Hamas distributed their leaders inside, and distributed their employees. Because in UNRWA, it’s like a very good salary for them, and it’s not for all people in Gaza. If you are not Hamas, you will not work there.
• “Hamas dominates news coverage in Gaza. From 2011 until 2019, I was organizing…protests against Hamas. In January, I was with other friends calling the people to go to the streets to let Hamas solve the electricity crisis, to let Hamas find for us a job. They shot at us and no media talked about us. Because of what? Because Hamas controlled the media inside Gaza and outside Gaza.
• “You will not find Al Jazeera cover any demonstration in Gaza calling for peace or calling to end the war. But you will find Al Jazeera cameras all over the Israeli community, because they want the pressure that comes from there, from Israel, not from Gaza.
• “Aid stamped ‘not for sale’ by the United Nations is looted by Hamas and sold in markets. [He also blames UNRWA for this violation.] Can you imagine that one cigarette cost $50? One cigarette, $50. So, I think Hamas made a lot of money in the war.
• “Hamas orders come from Iran and Qatar…Hamas loves the wars. Hamas loves if there is no university. Hamas loves if there is no school. Hamas loves if there are no good lives for the people. Hamas loves if we have just tents in Gaza, just people standing in lines and waiting for food and flour. Hamas loves to control the poverty. Hamas loves if there is no kind of life.”
These comments received little, if any attention. The reason, as stated above, is pretty obvious.
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