It's time to name names...
Media Literacy when "Hamas" and "Palestinian" are the only named aggressors in the last year of "Brutal War in Gaza", without once mentioning the "brutal attacker" of the last year on Gaza, is Israel.
Today’s the 7th of October 2024. I have been working non stop in the last two weeks to get content out to raise awareness for the Palestinian Genocide that could be published today, on the one year anniversary of the current phase of genocide at the hands of Israel.
I woke up to the prime minister of my country -whom I voted for-, telling us that the anniversary was for the unacceptable terrorist attack made a year ago by Hamas and Palestinians, where 1000 Jewish people lost their lives in the occupied territories (colony) of Israel.
The retaliation of Israel has murdered almost 200.000 Palestinian people (Lancet) in this last year. There was no mention of them.
Keir mentions the horror by name, Hamas, but talking about the horror of this last year, and the call for ceasefire, there is no addressee. Without mentioning that, after the 7th October 2023, Israel has destroyed Gaza, massacred Hospitals and almost -again- 200.000 civilians.
But he calls for a Ceasefire.
The only subject in that statement that is called at fault is Hamas, it’s the only ‘aggressor’ Keir mentions so, if you don’t know the story any better, you’ll think that his appeal for a ceasefire must be to Hamas, who else? (I think at time of writing Israel has refused countless truce offers from Hamas, including one where it demanded a cease fire from Hamas but reserved the right to resume attack as Israel saw fit.)
If you’re feeling gaslit and want to rebut half of this with “but wait, you’re not saying that…!”, that’s the feeling we’re going for here.
Media Literacy
Media literacy is the point today. And learning to read the news that make it to us hegemonically. The agreement of the ‘civilised west’ is to support Israel no matter what, in case you’ve missed it.
For the reasons as to why the White West decided to support Israel blindly to the point of doctoring to the limit of acceptable the wording of the news that get to us (as we are considering in this musing of mine) there are books, there might be future posts, in brief we can talk about:
The Balfour Declaration where the UK promised Palestinian Territories to the Zionists without authority to do so.
The gas and oil reserves offshore Gaza valued at about USD 500 Billion.
The need for former colonial empires (US and UK first) to support the contemporary colonial project of Israel, lest condemning it sounds too much like a confession of governments that could (and should) be pressured for restitution and compensation.
But don’t believe me, let’s analyse the statement of Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General. The UNRWA is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Keep that in mind, they are supposed to care for the Palestinian people and refugees. Hold that in your mind for a moment.
“One year on the horrendous massacre carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian[s]…”
I’m a late bloomer. This is the first post I read, without further explanation of anyone, that I went from:
mmmm something’s off…
the information that it gives, in the way that it’s phrased, could be very misleading…
to: “Oh 💩! that’s how the news talked about Gaza in the 90s and made me believe until last year that this is a “complicated issue”!
If you’ve seen my video on the phase 2 of Witches For Palestine, (also out today) on the mutual aid work to help Palestinian Refugees (funny thing, that’s what the UNRWA should do), the Raffle in support of Cwtches to Gaza, and Activism Fatigue, you’ve also seen a bit where I say “How Curious, according to the news, in the last year, people just ‘died’. They weren’t ‘killed by anyone’, so no ‘killer’ had to be mentioned.” Curious? No. The point in all these “official” messages is the same: when the aggressor is Israel, change the words to try and avoid mentions of Israel at all, and mention “people” dying, not Palestinians even if it is Palestinians, because if we say who they are, then it’s too obvious who murdered them (Israel).
Let’s look at this message to remember 7th October 2023, by the UNRWA who, remember, is the body in charge of taking care of Palestinian Refugees. Peculiar that they can’t even say who displaced the Palestinian refugees whose entire existence gives UNRWA a reason to exist.
The
Horrendous massacre
is immediately addressed and connected to a perpetrator:
carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups
not only Hamas (who is not Palestine), but the decision to add a wording that would allow the word Palestinian or derivatives in the sentence. We have an aggressor (Hamas), and we have the conflation of Hamas and Palestine.
on southern Israel, killing more than 1,250 people and taking 250 hostages.
Israel is mentioned only as the victim and a territory. The use of the words “people” and “hostages” immediately after and so close to the word “Israel” makes it very easy for the two to be connected by the quick reader, and so really the victims are Israeli People and Israeli Hostages. Side note: very “Israeli” territory is stolen land. To add insult to injury eh?
Now we go in the ‘fun’ bit where the wording goes and bends over backwords to not mention Israel’s retaliation and massacres, but still trying to mention the devastation of the last year.
Since that day, the Middle East is sinking deeper into conflict
The middle east is “sinking deeper into conflict”. As if earth was eating it up? If there’s a conflict, who’s the other side? Because so far the only mentions are “Hamas=Palestine” as aggressor, as South Israel People and Hostages as the victim.
Who did the sinking? Rather, who did the retaliation?
Like the title of this post says, let’s name names: The Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu perpetrated the disproportionate, inhumane retaliation.
deeper into conflict, killing and sheer horrors
The “Conflict, Killing and Sheer Horror” post October 7th does not come from a “sinkhole” that opened under Gaza, as the wording tries to stretch to: it came from the indiscriminate and repeated bombing to levels of annihilation that Israel decided were worth perpetrating. At one point Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets that included random babies. And the conflation of Palestinian people by existence and heritage with Hamas, and therefore terrorism, is allegedly what made Israel decide that civilians were worth collateral damage in the effort to exterminate Hamas.
I say allegedly because, when you see the list of “Hamas” agents shared by Israel and find pictures of literal babies in there, you can see for yourself how Israel doesn’t even try too hard with the excuses, because it knows the west (which has arms and money) will support them regardless. And the point really, is not Hamas, but Arab annihilation.
By the way, I am not “inventing” that the attacker (more aptly ‘exterminator’ here) is Israel. The random news source such as NPR will say so too if they don’t copy-paste their news from the standard new agencies. (Another issue for another time, Manufacturing Consent is the book you want to understand that)
Let’s talk about the next bit,
twelve months unspeakable suffering for the hostages in Gaza, their families left in limbo and a society deeply traumatized.
Let’s say you are white and westerner and all you’ve heard about Israel and Palestine is down to the conflict in the strip of Gaza and “it’s a complicated issue”. The organisation that is supposed to have the interests of Palestinian Refugees at heart, the UNRWA, talks about the devastation of a terrorist attack at the hand of Hamas, but really, by Palestinian [armed forces], and then it talks about the absolute devastation of a war that’s brought 12 months of suffering.
I’ll tell you what 1990s little Ysha would have understood from this, so you can unclench if you think the same: even with the good reading comprehension little Ysha had (dyslexia aside), their understanding, with just the information in this statement, would have been:
oh shit! not only Hamas and the Palestinians have killed 1250 people in Israel, but they haven’t stopped their Horrors and Killings, bringing even more Suffering to the poor people in Gaza?!
The only aggressor and subject given in this statement refers to Hamas and Palestinians as the aggressors. If you then continue to talk “impersonally” about horrors that continued, without any further context or information, it’s plausible, it’s text comprehension to think that the aggressor is the same as previously stated, unless explicitly said otherwise.
And this, is lying by omission, because Israel is the aggressor. Israel is the occupier of a land that’s not theirs and every Israeli citizen has double citizenship to attest to that.
The text continues with the same “Impersonally curated” way to describe horrors, without ever mentioning a perpetrator, so that the natural connection a reader will do is with the first and only perpetrator of the “Massacre” of the 7th October 2023, which are named as -again-, Hamas and Palestinians.
An exercise for Media Literacy development
I could go on and break down every line of the UNRWA statement but you know what? Let’s make it one of those “I’ve shown you the way, given you the key, now you continue” kind of exercise, shall we? The following is the rest of the statement. See if in the comments you have time / patience / inclination to break down the way even the UNRWA will protect Israel to the point of never naming them in every horror they perpetrated, and carefully juxtapose those horrors to only one name “Hamas”, to see how the free association works…
Clue: note how it’s “Gaza” but never “Palestine” unless in a negative connotation? Any takers to analyse as to why? I’ll give you a digital gold star 🌟 if it doesn’t make me sound too patronising.
Twelve months of brutal war have transformed the Gaza Strip into an unrecognizable sea of rubble, and a graveyard for tens of thousands of people, among them far too many children.
One year has passed and not a day goes by without families in Gaza being subjected to unspeakable suffering, as forced displacement, disease, hunger, and death have become the daily norm for 2 million people trapped in a bombed- out and besieged enclave.
A year of profound loss, grief and suffering.
A year of dehumanization and disregard of international law; a free fall descent into barbarism.
In Gaza, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the war. More than 220 UNRWA team members have been killed: the highest death toll in the history of the United Nations.
Children have been the first and most to suffer. Beyond the killing and injury, every child in Gaza is traumatized many with life-long invisible scars. More than 650,000 children are losing another year of learning. Instead of being in classrooms, they are sifting through the rubble in despair and fear.
The destruction of essential infrastructure has reached catastrophic levels.
More than two thirds of UNRWA buildings have been hit and deemed unusable, the vast majority while sheltering displaced people under the UN flag.
In the West Bank, civilians continued to endure destruction, fear and anxiety amid an escalation and increase in operations by the Israeli military and clashes with Palestinian armed groups. Poverty is deepening as people lose income and as movement restrictions are reinforced.
The expansion of the war into Lebanon is wreaking havoc on civilians, many forced to relive traumas of the past.
It is time for courage: a deal that would finally bring a ceasefire and respite to people in Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and the wider region.
It is time to put the guns down after decades of killing and immense pain.
It is time to release all hostages safely to their families, who are living through unbearable uncertainty.
It is time to bring a standard flow of basic humanitarian supplies including to the hungry and sick in Gaza.
There are no winners in wars. The only way out is through a diplomatic and peaceful solution.
It’s time to heal the wounds. It’s time to choose peace!