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Controlling the Gaza War Narrative

(Times of Israel) Hugh Taylor - How is it that Gaza, with 36 hospitals built with EU donations, thousands of UN relief workers on the scene for decades, and some of the highest per capita healthcare spending in the Arab world, failed to vaccinate its children? Some are calling for an unconditional ceasefire, seemingly unconcerned that such a deal might leave dozens of hostages to die in the hands of Jew-hating terrorists. They somehow think that there's a peace agreement in the offing with Hamas, which has publicly committed to murdering every Jew in Israel. They claim it's Israel's duty to prematurely suspend their justified dismantling of the Hamas death machine, which has attacked Israel for almost 20 years. If it were any other country, Israel's response would either be ignored or praised for its calibrated consideration of civilians while putting their own fighters at risk. If Hamas were any other political entity in the world, it would be broadly condemned for attacking without provocation. For Hamas, this isn't really a war, it's a publicity stunt, a massive re-running of Yasir Arafat's original playbook: The more Jewish children you kill, the more world attention and sympathy you get. If Hamas didn't burn Jewish children alive on Oct. 7, the world would not be paying much attention to them. And, it's working out amazingly well for Hamas. They're getting massive amounts of positive media coverage, while world opinion is solidly against Israel. Except, according to New York Magazine, a mere 14% of Americans under 50 say they are following the war extremely or very closely, and that under-30 voters listed "Israel/Palestine" 15th among the 16 "major issues." So if Americans aren't following the story, and don't care much about the issue, why are we hearing about it so often? Because it's a money-maker for news corporations. Dead kids in Gaza are great clickbait, even if the images are fake. Disinformation campaigns that make Jews look like amoral, bloodthirsty killers are good for the bottom line, even if they cause a massive uptick in antisemitic violence in the U.S. The result is that the views of a small group of well-funded anti-Israel loudmouths are controlling the narrative. Somehow, when there are no Jews involved, many far more serious crises around the world just don't rate coverage.
2024-09-05 00:00:00
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