Today’s essay is about how legacy and mainstream Western media function as a tool of colonization and, as such, directly participates in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. While thinking critically about capitalist colonial systems is important, I want us to stay grounded in the material reality Palestinians are facing in Gaza. Right now, thousands of Palestinians are using gofundme and other crowdfunding platforms to raise money for the extractive fees being charged for them to be put on a list to cross the Rafah border into Egypt. I’m highlighting two crowdfunding campaigns right now. The first is for Nagham and her brother Karam, who are both medical students in Gaza. Their family are trapped in the north. The second is for Nagham’s friend’s father, who is dealing with gangrene diabetic foot and critical stenosis in his abdomen and needs urgent, life-saving treatment that he cannot access in Gaza due to the IOF decimating healthcare infrastructure throughout this genocide. If you have any money to spare, even just a few dollars, it would be very helpful.
This essay is significantly longer than any I’ve published before. If it is helpful to chunk your reading of it, please do! It’s divided into five sections:
Introduction: a high level overview of recent western media coverage of the genocide in Gaza
Invested in genocide: who owns and funds major mainstream and legacy media outlets in the u.s. and how those funders are involved in the genocide in Gaza
Imperialist tools of the state: how mainstream and legacy media outlets in the u.s. portray violence committed by the u.s. and its allies compared to violence committed by u.s. enemies
Hasbara and the Global Language Dictionary: how u.s. media relies on hasbara and the Global Language Dictionary in their coverage of “israeli” occupation and aggressions, historically and now
Manufacturing consent: how mainstream and legacy media outlets report on the imperialist violence that the u.s. commits around the world in order to gain the support and consent of the u.s. public for this violence, and how this is currently being done to gain our consent for the genocide in Gaza
I also want to thank the friends and comrades who helped make this essay happen. Thank you to Bread for sharing your finance knowledge, helping me crunch numbers when my brain was turning to mush, and making sure I didn’t make any completely inaccurate claims. Thank you to the friend from Dissenters for saving me from the rabbit hole I was in and sending along some immensely helpful sources. Thank you to Lee for letting me rant about this essay repeatedly over the last four months, for reminding me that tending to my brain was more important than arbitrary deadlines, and for figuring out how to get around substack’s immensely annoying lack of tables. And thank you, especially, to my beloved, Roe, for reading this more times than any person ever should.
On Sunday, February 111, while millions of americans watched the Super Bowl, and the “israeli”2 propaganda that played during it, the “israeli” occupation forces (IOF) launched air strikes and a ground invasion on Rafah. Palestinian journalists documented it in excruciating detail. The next morning, the headlines for mainstream media outlets were:
The New York Times: “An Outburst by Trump on NATO May Push Europe to Go It Alone”
The Washington Post: “Trump’s NATO-bashing comments rile allies, rekindle European fears”
The Wall Street Journal: “Energy Rivals Near Big Merger”
CNN: “Damage is done after Trump’s NATO remarks”
Fox News: “Dem attacks fans not standing for NFL’s controversial Black national anthem”
MSNBC: “The million-dollar question at the heart of Trump’s lawyer problem”
Other headlines that made the front page, digitally or in print, were:
“Israel Says It Will Protect Civilians in a Gazan City It Is Determined to Invade”
“Israel strikes Rafah in southern Gaza to rescue two hostages, IDF says”
“Israeli forces rescue two hostages as strikes kill dozens of Palestinians”
“As Trump targets her deployed husband, Haley asks ‘Where are the Republicans?’”
and so many about the Super Bowl: who won, how it’s quietly tragic, the ads, takes on specific players
Rafah is the last “safe zone” in Gaza. Since October 7, the IOF has regularly declared an area of Gaza “safe,” demanded that Palestinians go there, and bombed them en route, then again once they were in that “safe zone.” The same is true of Rafah. 1.7 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced to Rafah before February 11. And yet, while the IOF bombarded Rafah, murdering over 120 Palestinians, western media talked about things that did not matter. When they did acknowledge what happened in Rafah, they framed it as “israel” “rescuing hostages,” with no mention of the fact that“israel” could have done so on October 7 by releasing all Palestinian hostages held prisoner by israel. They only passively mentioned the murder of Palestinians, if at all, and failed to hold “israel” accountable for killing them. And they framed “israel” as the credible source.
What mainstream u.s. media should have covered on the morning of Monday, February 12 was:
The 120+ Palestinians murdered by the IOF in Rafah on Sunday, February 11, who would still be alive if the u.s. would stop sending weapons and money to “israel”
The Palestinians still under the rubble in Rafah after the IOF’s ground invasion and airstrikes, who would be able to breathe if the u.s. would stop sending weapons and money to “israel”
The Palestinians injured by the IOF’s bombing and ground invasion of Rafah, who would not be if the u.s. would stop sending weapons and money to “israel”
The young boy who couldn’t be more than a few years old, who repeated “I am not afraid” over and over while doctors tried to wipe the blood from his face, who embodied sumud, steadfastness, when no child should have to, but Palestinians must
The young girl, Sidra Hassouna, whose shredded body hung from a wall, who was no doubt sleeping when she was murdered by “israel,” whose body was no longer whole, who would still be here, playing with her family if the u.s. would stop sending weapons and money to “israel”
The fact that “israel” forcibly displaced 1.7 million Palestinians to Rafah over the previous 127 days and then brutally bombed and invaded Rafah, just like they bombed every other place they declared a “safe zone” because they are intentionally forcibly displacing and genociding Palestinians
The fact that the IOF attacked Rafah without any prior evacuation orders and, even if they had given evacuation orders, Rafah is the southernmost part of Gaza so there is nowhere left for Palestinians to go
The fact that, even if the IOF had given evacuation orders, Palestinians should not be forcibly displaced and ethnically cleansed from their homes in the first place and Palestinians have the right to be on their land and to resist their colonizers by all means necessary
The 75 years of “israeli” occupation that led to the current escalated genocide in Gaza, including and especially the fundamental role the u.s. has always played in that occupation
The NFL’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
This happens over and over again. Palestinians are murdered by the IOF when they try to access aid and legacy media says nothing. Palestinians are crushed to death by the aid being dropped by the u.s. and legacy media says nothing. Children are intentionally starved to death and legacy media says nothing. South Africa provides abundant, indisputable evidence of “israel” carrying out a genocide in Gaza and legacy media says nothing3. Palestinians are massacred by a zionist drone as they are walking and legacy media says nothing4. Palestinians, including children, are abducted by the IOF across all of Palestine and legacy media says nothing. A six year old child, Hind Rajab, is trapped for hours in a vehicle with family members murdered by “israeli” tanks, begging for her life, before “israel” murders her and the medics who tried to save her, and legacy media says nothing. “israel” uses “power targets,” intentionally slaughtering civilians to “create a shock” and legacy media says nothing.
Recently, legacy media failed to cover “israel’s” destruction of and siege on al-Shifa Hospital, again. The siege lasted more than two weeks and the reports coming out are horrifying. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were displaced inside al-Shifa when “israeli” soldiers invaded it. In the first four days alone, the IOF executed at least 140 Palestinians inside the hospital, including children. By the time the IOF was forced to leave by the resistance, they had executed more than 400 Palestinians in and around al-Shifa Hospital. They drove over them with bulldozers, crushing them to death. They burned them to death. They handcuffed them and buried them alive. Among those executed was Dr. Muhammad Al-Nono, who was murdered for refusing to abandon his patients. Others were executed for moving, literally moving their bodies. The hospital grounds are filled with martyrs. Again.
Over the course of the two weeks, the IOF starved and tortured Palestinians: beating them, demanding that they say “long live israel,” stripping them, eating food in front of them, blindfolding and handcuffing them for hours at a time, controlling if and when they could sleep. The IOF abducted Palestinians from the hospital, blindfolding and closely packing them onto truck beds. Among those abducted was journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul. Ismail has since been released and continues to report on the siege on al-Shifa Hospital. The few that were released from the hospital were stripped first and forced to leave without clothing.
Forcing Palestinians to leave the hospital without clothes was only one form of sexual violence the IOF committed at al-Shifa hospital. They also raped Palestinian women. Hossam Shabat reported this testimony from inside the hospital:
“A husband and wife, along with their young children who were displaced, sought shelter at Al-Shifa Hospital. The pregnant wife was forcibly undressed by israeli forces despite informing them of her pregnancy; they continued to kick her. Then, they assaulted and raped her in front of her family and other men, threatening to shoot her husband and the other men if they closed their eyes.”
This did not only happen inside al-Shifa Hospital. At al-Khair Hospital, paramedics report that the IOF raped a woman for two days until she was unable to speak. At Nasser Hospital, a woman was stripped in front of her husband and brother. When they tried to take their own clothes off to cover her, IOF soldiers shot and killed them. Both of these happened at the same time as the siege on al-Shifa Hospital. Despite claiming to be the most moral army in the world, the IOF doesn’t even try to hide the sexual violence at the very core of their being. In fact, they publish footage of it, they celebrate it. This is exactly how the IOF has always operated. It is exactly how colonialism has always operated.
Despite all of this, or more accurately, because of it, legacy and mainstream western media continue to remain silent about the atrocities that “israel” is committing against Palestinians. An “israeli” spokesperson went so far as to say “I believe that the terrorist takeover of Shifa and the subsequent special forces operation to clear the hospital of terrorists will be studied by future generations of military strategists at West Point and Sandhurst as the gold standard of urban warfare,” and western media remained silent. A former “israeli” prime minister claimed the IOF didn’t kill a single Palestinian civilian at al-Shifa and western media remained silent. Instead, they talked about the foreign aid workers in Gaza who “israel” killed in an airstrike. The examples of “israeli” violence that western media fails to cover are countless.
In the rare instances when they do talk about “israel’s” genocide against Palestinians, they almost never call it a genocide. Instead they call it a “conflict” or the “Israel-Hamas war.” They use passive language, saying things like Palestinians “died” or they’ve “gone missing,” that a “famine” is coming and children are “going hungry.” They regurgitate “israeli” talking points that the resistance are “terrorists” who started this on October 7. They do this even when they are speaking with Palestinians. They do this because legacy and mainstream western media are themselves tools of imperialism. To accurately report on the “israeli” occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians, these media outlets would have to first dismantle their very selves5.
Invested in genocide
Mainstream and legacy media outlets in the u.s. are quite literally invested in this genocide, something that becomes clear as soon as you scratch the surface on who their investors are. Many mainstream media outlets are owned by a company and those companies have investors. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, all of these media outlets are owned by companies whose top five investors include at least two6 of the following: BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Inc, and State Street Corporation.
Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention The Washington Post and Associated Press (AP) when talking about mainstream media. The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos via Nash Holdings, a private holding company he set up in order to purchase The Washington Post in 2013. AP is a non-profit news organization with no shareholders, but with philanthropic donors. We’ll get back to these two in a moment.
The table below shows the company that owns each media outlet, the company’s top five shareholders, and the total investment BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Inc, and State Street Corporation have in the company.
So who are BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street? And what do they have to do with the genocide in Gaza?
On October 26, 2023, LittleSis7 published an article called “Corporate Enablers of Israel’s War on Gaza.” In it, they outline the major defense companies and weapons manufacturers profiting from the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and those companies’ donors who are funding and enabling it. Five of the top six weapons manufacturers in the world are based in the u.s.: Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Northrop Grumman, Boeing8, and General Dynamics. All of these weapons manufacturers have been selling weapons to “israel” for decades, making millions of dollars off of the violent occupation of Palestine and, now, the genocide of Palestinians.
Three of the top five shareholders for every single one of these companies? BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. That is, except for General Dynamics, where State Street comes in sixth. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are all global investment companies based in the u.s. They take money from investors and invest it into other companies in order to make more money for those investors. So they care a lot about whether the companies they’re invested in make money or not. If they don’t, they’ll pull their investment, costing the company millions of dollars. Even if other investors buy some of those shares, a divestment of that size would still bring down the share price. This could also make other investors question how safe it is for them to put their money in that company and ultimately could result in the company being further sold off or revalued, hurting the news outlet owned by that company.
These same investment companies are deeply invested in the genocide in Gaza. The following table shows how much each of their investment values9 in the top five weapons manufacturers have increased10 since October 7:
In total, BlackRock’s investment values increased $4,723,849,844 since October 7, Vanguard’s increased $5,868,999,770, and State Street’s increased $6,184,931,955. These same investment companies that are actively funding and profiting off of the genocide in Gaza are funding many of the companies that own mainstream media outlets in the u.s.
In the case of The Washington Post, it’s important to consider Amazon Inc, founded and chaired by Jeff Bezos. Amazon, unlike Nash Holdings, is publicly traded on the stock market and, therefore, has shareholders. Three of the top five of which are, you guessed it, BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Inc, and State Street Corporation. Amazon also provides surveillance technology to “israel” through its Amazon Web Services Branch11. Finally, not that anyone needs more convincing that Jeff Bezos is a shitty person, but in November, he went to “israel” and signed IOF missiles that were used to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza. It’s not a huge leap to say that The Washington Post is invested in the genocide in Gaza.
Finally, Associated Press’ not-for-profit model and funding structure. In The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, INCITE! talks about how their concerns about grant funding were confirmed when the Ford Foundation rescinded a grant months after offering it because of INCITE!’s support of the Palestinian liberation struggle. While AP is 501(c)6 organization, not a 501(c)3, and its philanthropic supporters do not include the Ford Foundation, the analysis laid out in The Revolution Will Not Be Funded is still applicable. The book describes how “the state uses non-profits to:
monitor and control social justice movements;
divert public monies into private hands through foundations;
manage and control dissent in order to make the world safe for capitalism;
redirect activist energies into career-based modes of organization instead of mass-based organizing capable of actually transforming society;
allow corporations to mask their exploitative and colonial work practices through ‘philanthropic’ work;
encourage social movements to model themselves after capitalist structures rather than to challenge them”
Essentially, the rich should not control social movements, and the same can and should be said about journalism. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want billionaires deciding what I do or don’t get to know about the world. AP’s philanthropic supporters include Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. No billionaire will willingly give up their money and power. Why, then, would they donate to an organization that will truthfully report on resistance and liberation movements, when those very movements seek to dismantle the systems that allow billionaires to be billionaires. They wouldn’t.
Media outlets are beholden to those who fund them, whether that’s their owners, shareholders, or donors. When it is clear that those funders are profiting off of the genocide in Gaza, is it really that big of a leap, then, to say that mainstream media is invested in the genocide? Is it that difficult to imagine that they would cover the genocide in a way that paints “israel” as defending itself and Palestinians as “terrorists”? That they would be invested in manufacturing our consent for the continued genocide of Palestinians?
Imperialist tools of the state
“Legacy media outlets only became a legacy by pedaling information for the powers that be. They will only show you what they are told to show you or what will further the interests of a political agenda. And that political agenda is and always will be colonialism and american imperialism.” - Jenan Matari
Following World War II, the u.s. began eyeing Britain and France’s colonial territories, especially in the Middle East. In a 1945 State Department memo, the oil deposits in and around Palestine are described as a “stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history.” Three years later, when “israel” declared itself a state in 1948, the u.s. was the first country to recognize it, just 11 minutes later. We quickly began funding “israel” in an effort to secure our control in the region.
In July 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, costing Britain its control over it. This was part of a broader Arab nationalist movement12 across the region that was deeply committed to liberation. The u.s. intervened on behalf of Egypt to help them overthrow British colonialism, which we were happy to take over. We framed our imperialism as different than British colonialism. This new, american style of imperialism has been called “benevolent supremacy13,” and is characterized by a false, paternalistic promise of liberty and democracy, all thanks to capitalism. What it is actually about is protecting u.s. interests around the world. As a result of Egypt overthrowing Britain with u.s. support, “israel” began turning to the u.s. as a new ally and by 1962, we had begun arming “israel.”
On June 5, 1967, “israel” attacked Egypt, launching the Six Days War, referred to as the Naksa. During this Naksa, “israel” forcibly displaced and ethnically cleansed over 300,000 Palestinians and seized the West Bank, Gaza, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrian Golan Heights. As a result, “israel” occupied all of Palestine.
“israel’s” success in occupying and colonizing more of Palestine changed its relationship with the u.s. Now, we saw “israel” as a strategic partner in a region rich with oil and we quickly became their predominant arms-supplier. We amped up our military support of “israel” again in 1973, after a coalition of Arab resistance armies surprised “israel” and nearly defeated it. Afraid to lose its access to oil in the region, the u.s. drastically increased military aid to “israel” to ensure its “Qualitative Military Edge,” something still baked into u.s. policies today. According to The Left Berlin, “Up to 1973, US foreign military sales to any one recipient were capped at $250 million per year. In 1974, US military aid to Israel rocketed to $2.4 billion, setting an annual benchmark since.”
When mainstream and legacy media turn to government officials for information, they are always going to hear that “israel” is doing the right thing, because “israel” is doing what the u.s. wants: genociding and ethnically cleansing indigenous Palestinians in order to ensure u.s. control over resources that we want, namely oil. This is a well-documented function of mainstream and legacy media. In Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky outline numerous examples of western media failing to effectively cover atrocities committed by the u.s. and its allies, while disproportionately covering those committed by u.s. enemies.
In 1975, mainstream media altogether failed to cover Indonesia’s brutal invasion and occupation of East Timor. In less than a year, Indonesia killed tens of thousands of East Timorese, yet western media was silent. Notably, the u.s. considered Indonesia an ally at this time and provided them with immense military and diplomatic aid. At the same time, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge committed similar acts of genocide against Cambodians, killing 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians over the course of four years. Mainstream media almost immediately called this a genocide and condemned Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, comparing them to Hitler and the Nazis. Because the u.s. government used the Khmer Rouge genocide to further anticommunist efforts, the mainstream media covered it. They interviewed Cambodian survivors and refugees, though only insofar as their statements aligned with u.s. talking points, of course. Through all of their coverage of the genocide, mainstream media conveniently left out the six years prior to 1975 when the u.s. heavily bombed Cambodia, destroying much of the country and murdering over 150,000 Cambodians. They left out the conditions left behind by the u.s. before Pol Pot came to power, including the fact that 100,000 Cambodians in Phnom Penh alone were expected to die of starvation as a result of u.s. bombing. They left out the fact that u.s. aid was keeping many Cambodians alive and that, if the u.s. stopped this aid, a million Cambodians were expected to die; the u.s. stopped that aid.
Just like East Timor and Cambodia, there are two genocides playing out right now with extraordinarily different coverage by western media: Ukraine and Palestine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, legacy and mainstream media were quick to condemn Russia, as was the u.s. government. They called Ukraine civilized, talked about how European and white it is, heavily implying and sometimes just saying that Ukrainians’ whiteness made Russia’s attacks unimaginable and indefensible. In the first week alone, mainstream media called Russia’s invasion a “moral atrocity,” compared it to Hitler’s actions and the invasion of Poland, and called Ukrainian resistance fighters “instructors and inspirers” who are “defend[ing] their own land.”
It’s not that this coverage is inaccurate. It’s that it echoes the stance of the u.s. government: Russia is our enemy, so Russia must be punished and its victims must be defended. What’s important is that right now, during “israel’s” genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, mainstream and legacy media are again echoing the stance of the u.s. government. It’s just that this time, the occupier is a u.s. ally supporting u.s. interests through occupation and genocide. So, of course, Palestinian resistance fighters are “terrorists” and “israel” is “defending itself.” If western media covered “israel’s” occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians the way that it has covered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Palestinians, including the resistance, would be called heroes and “israel’s” actions would be unequivocally condemned.
Mainstream and legacy media’s role as propagandists for u.s. government is also apparent in the use of the term “genocide.” Consistently, media uses the term genocide only when it benefits the u.s. to do so. In Manufacturing Consent, Herman and Chomsky state “We can even read who are U.S. friends and enemies from the media’s use of the word [genocide].” They compared the number of times the word “genocide” was used to describe four different genocides in mainstream media. When the perpetrator was a u.s. ally, like Turkey14 and Indonesia15, media rarely called it a genocide. On the other hand, when the perpetrator was a u.s. enemy, like Iraq16 and Yugoslavia17, media used the word four to nine times more often.
Today, western media continues this pattern, all but refusing to call “israel’s” actions in Gaza a genocide. On the other hand, it’s standard practice to frame the resistance’s attack on October 7 as “the biggest number of Jews killed since the Holocaust.” This is meant, quite intentionally, to evoke horror on behalf of the zionist entity and its settlers. It’s meant to evoke deep-seated Islamophobia18, viscerally established19 by the u.s. and media20 in the earliest years of the West’s war on terror21. It’s meant to keep us focused on the feelings of Jews, especially white Jews, so that we will consent to the violent murders, maiming, and ethnic cleansing of millions of Palestinians.
Hasbara and the Global Language Dictionary
“It doesn’t matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your side as just.” - Benjamin Netanyahu
In the summer of 1982, “israel” attacked and occupied Lebanon to push out the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). During these attacks, “israel” murdered over 17,000 Palestinians and Lebanese and wounded over 30,000 more. Just months later, they attacked the Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camps in Beirut, killing thousands of Palestinian refugees, who “israel” had forcibly displaced there in 1967. Although this mass murder was not new for "israel,” it was the first time that it was televised. As footage of these brutal attacks and images of Palestinians and Lebanese civilians horribly burned by phosphorous shells played out on western news, “israel’s” response was global gaslighting, insisting that any blame placed on “israel” was “entirely baseless and without any foundation.” They insisted that these attacks were self-defense and necessary because of “terrorists.” This has always been “israel’s” approach. What was different, though, was that people in the west were seeing video and photographic evidence to the contrary. “israeli” and american zionists realized that “in the war of pictures, we lose.” Suddenly, that mattered to them very much.
In response to so many in the west questioning “israel’s” legitimacy and u.s. support for “israel,” zionists turned their attention to establishing hasbara, which is “israeli” propaganda that serves to paint “israel” as the blameless, self-defending victim to those abroad. The American Jewish Congress sponsored a conference in Jerusalem in 1983 for this very purpose. At the conference, members described the 1982 “israeli” attacks in Lebanon as a crisis. Specifically, a crisis of hasbara. They had panels on how to present “unpalatable policies” and claimed that the press was becoming “increasingly adversarial.”
At the conference, Ehud Olmert, a career “israeli” politician and “israeli” prime minister from 2006 to 2009, recognized that “[o]ne of the most crucial services that Jews in the United States render to the state is that of Hasbara on behalf of the State of Israel.”22 American zionists took that call seriously. The following year, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) created and distributed The AIPAC College Guide: Exposing the Anti-Israel Campaign on Campus. In it, they warn that “American college students are regularly exposed to bitter denunciations of the State of Israel in a way that most Americans are not.” The guide explicitly blames “foreign Arab students” and Arab professors, such as Edward Said, Walid Khalidi, and James Zogby. Thus began in earnest the decades long effort to indoctrinate american college students, namely Jewish american college students, into zionism23. It’s noteworthy that, prior to the conference, some Jewish american zionists had already taken matters into their own hands. Immediately following the 1982 attacks, Winifred Meiselman founded the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA). CAMERA still targets western media outlets claiming they have an “anti-Israel bias.”24 In the last month alone, they’ve targeted reporting done by AP News, The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times. Apparently, regurgitating “israeli” talking points isn’t “pro-israel” enough for CAMERA.
Carl Spielvogel, an American advertising columnist and executive, attended the 1983 hasbara conference. He recommended the “creation of a Cabinet post dedicated exclusively to the communication and interpretation of “israeli” policy. [T]he minister who holds this job would not be setting policy, but presenting it in the most attractive way to the rest of the world.” And “israel” did just that.
Through these PR efforts, the foundation of hasbara was established. When images show Palestinian resistance to “israeli” occupation, “israel” insists that the occupation simply does not exist. It frames all Palestinian resistance as terrorism and “israel” as merely defending itself. This is consistent across every “israeli” aggression.
Since the 1983 hasbara conference, numerous american zionist organizations have been created to help “israel” justify its occupation to americans. A particularly noteworthy example is the Israel Project. In 2009, the Israel Project consulted with Frank Luntz, a zionist communications consultant well-known for developing far right talking points and messaging strategies. Luntz worked with the Israel Project to identify what talking points were the most effective in making americans sympathize with “israel.” The result was the Global Language Dictionary, and it is exactly what it sounds like.
Reading the Global Language Dictionary is nauseating. It’s gaslighting. It’s reading every horrible, intentionally false headline in america about Palestinians, except the headlines are wrapped up in This is great! Do this and americans will believe you and give you money! Considering the u.s. sends billions of dollars to “israel” every year25, I’d say it’s worked. You don’t actually have to read the Global Language Dictionary to know what it says, though, all you have to do is read legacy and mainstream media’s headlines.
Despite the fact that the document is 116 pages, it circles around the same two points over and over again: terror, not territory and the right to self-defense. Unsurprisingly, these are also the foundation of hasbara. Terror, or some variation of the word, is repeated one hundred thirty six times in the document. More than once a page. That doesn’t even include all of the times it’s implied by saying “Hamas”26 or “rockets.”27 Luntz really hates anything he deems “in the past,” including the Nakba, Naksa, borders, and territory. He thinks none of this matters anymore and that “israel” and the u.s. should instead focus on “terrorism” and a path to “peace.” That peace, he insists, is only possible because of “israel’s” right to self-defense. Following the Global Language Dictionary is supposed to ensure that americans don’t challenge the billions of dollars we send to “israel” every year. Because if americans are to believe that Palestinians are inherently terrorists, if we are to believe that the occupation of Palestine isn’t real, then it goes to reason that “israel” must be defending itself. And americans feel really strongly about a country’s right to defend itself, nevermind that “israel” is just a settler colonial project. After all, america’s just a settler colonial project too.
These talking points were used over and over again in legacy and mainstream media’s coverage of “israel’s” five aggressions on Gaza since the start of the blockade in 2005 and before the current genocide. The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the United States takes us through the media’s coverage28 of the first three of these aggressions in 2008, 2012, and 2014. Over and over again media repeat “israel’s” talking points: that it was in response to rockets, that terrorists started it, that “israel” had no choice but to protect itself. Looking at coverage of the 2021 and 2022 aggressions shows the same pattern. And it’s only gotten worse during the current genocide in Gaza.
In writing about the genocide in Gaza, legacy and mainstream media outlets avoid calling it a genocide at all costs. Instead, they regurgitate “israeli” talking points: Hamas started this on October 7, “israel’s” response is “self-defense,” Hamas are “terrorists,” and “israel” will stop when all “israeli” hostages are released. Even when they interview actual Palestinians, including Palestinians who have lost dozens of family members in the current genocide in Gaza, they are bold enough in their cruelty to ask “Do you condemn Hamas?” Regardless of how the person being interviewed responds, reporters inevitably jump back into their “israeli” talking points. Rarely, if ever, do mainstream and legacy media consider whether these talking points are true or not.29
When they say that Hamas started this on October 730, they conveniently leave out the 75 years of Nakba that started in 1948 when “israel” forcibly displaced and ethnically cleansed over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. They leave out the 30 prior years of violent British occupation and the fact that the zionist movement’s occupation of and war on Palestine has consistently been “backed by the greatest imperial powers of every age.”31 They leave out the zionist Balfour Declaration that promised Palestine to Jews in 1917, claiming that Palestinians did not exist, and the 1920 British Mandate that put the Balfour Declaration into effect. They leave out the ongoing 17 year blockade on Gaza that controls virtually every aspect of life for Gazans: their caloric intake32, their access to medical treatment33, their ability to travel, their access to fuel and electricity34, their economy35, their water sources36, everything. They leave out the apartheid regime across occupied Palestine that restricts the movement of Palestinians; determines the intimacies of their lives, including who they can marry and where they can live; steals Palestinian land; and empowers settlers to attack and murder Palestinians with no consequences.
When they say that “israel” is defending itself, they ignore that, even by international legal standards, “israel” does not have the right to self-defense because they are the occupier.37 They ignore that, even by international legal standards, Palestinians have the right to resist their occupation by all means necessary. They ignore the fact that the publicly available 1948 Plan Dalet outlines precisely what “israel” is doing right now: genocide and ethnic cleansing in order to occupy all of Palestine, with no Palestinians left on the land to resist that occupation.
When they say that “israel” will stop when all “israeli” hostages are released, they ignore the fact that Hamas made clear from the start of Al-Aqsa Flood38 that all hostages would be released upon the release of all Palestinian hostages and that “israel” has refused this at least three separate times. They ignore the fact that the Palestinians held by “israel” are, in fact, hostages, not prisoners. They ignore the fact that Palestinian hostages have all been abducted by “israel,” many are held without charge, and hundreds of them are children. They ignore “israel’s” unequivocally inhumane treatment of these hostages. They ignore the fact that “israel” abducted more hostages than they released during the “temporary ceasefire” in November 202339. They ignore the fact that “israel” re-abducted many of those same Palestinians after releasing them. They ignore the fact that “israel” has abducted so many Palestinians since October 7 that there are now twice as many held hostage as there were at the start of Al-Aqsa Flood.
Beyond these talking points, media has continued to repeat specific lies that “israel” and the u.s. have fabricated, including, but certainly not limited to:
“israel” “gave Gaza” to Palestinians in 2005, when in reality they moved their settlers out of Gaza in order to besiege Gaza, not to mention how absurd it is to think that an occupier can give an Indigenous people their own land
Hamas “raped women” on October 7, despite the lack of proof or victim testimony
Hamas “beheaded babies” on October 7, despite the fact that this was almost immediately proven false
Hamas was using hospitals as bases, using a piece of paper on a whiteboard that supposedly listed every “terrorist’s name” and “his shift” as proof, despite the fact that a simple translation proves that it was simply a calendar listing the days of the week
the situation is “complicated,” despite the fact that the occupation and genocide are quite straightforward
a “two-state solution” should be the way forward, despite the fact that “israel” has always sought to occupy all of Palestine and displace all Palestinians from their land, and that Palestinians have the right to live safely in their own land and should never be asked to live alongside their occupiers
UNRWA employees participated in the resistance’s attacks on October 7, despite the fact that these claims were completely baseless
1,400 “israelis” were killed by Hamas on October 7, despite the fact that this number has actually gone down in the last six months and that the IOF was responsible for at least 20% of those deaths.
Through all of this, they use direct quotes from the Global Language Dictionary. They say that Palestinians maintain a “culture of hate.” They say that, on October 7, “rockets rained down.” They talk about a “cycle of violence” maintained by Hamas. They say “israel” just “wants peace.” Every single one of these is a direct quote from the Global Language Dictionary. They also quote from the fairly obscure and effectively disowned40 1988 Hamas charter, while refusing to acknowledge the current Hamas charter41 in order to imply, or sometimes just plain state, that Palestinians are actually the genocidal ones. Despite “israel’s” actual, ongoing genocide of Palestinians. This is something that the Global Language Dictionary explicitly says to do. In fact, it has an entire chapter and appendix dedicated to it.
Looking at The New York Times in particular, a New York War Crimes’ analysis found that, between October 7, 2023 and March 14, 2024, The Times quoted “israeli” and american sources more than three times as much as they quoted Palestinian sources. Even worse, they quoted “israeli” and american officials nine times more often than they quoted Palestinians. In that same period, they reported on antisemitism five times more than they reported on Islamophobia. This is despite the fact that there has been a marked increase in violence against Arabs and Muslims, “including the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont and the stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago.” And overwhelmingly, The New York Times uses the passive voice. By doing so, they actively obscure “israel’s” agency and culpability in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the devastating destruction across Gaza. A Times memo distributed to staff in November makes it clear that their coverage of Palestine is intentional. The memo outlines how staff should cover the “Gaza war.” It directs staff to “use ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorists’ in describing the attacks of Oct. 7.” It recommends that staff rarely, if ever, use the terms genocide and ethnic cleansing to describe what “israel” is doing to Palestinians in Gaza. It tells staff not to use the name Palestine “except in very rare cases.” This memo makes it clear that The New York Times is intentionally aligning with “israeli” and u.s. talking points about “israel” and Palestine.
The fact that The New York Times’ tagline is still “All the news that’s fit to print” is laughable at best, and insidious at worst. Even in their tagline they’re establishing the fact that they are the most accurate source of information for news around the world. They’re telling us that, if it’s important, it will be in The New York Times. So if it’s not there, why bother talking about it? It must not matter, right? Not to mention the fact that media outlets across the u.s. turn to The Times to determine what they should cover and how.
Mainstream and legacy media choose to parrot “israeli” and u.s. talking point about “terrorism” and “self-defense,” regardless of the reality on the ground. It genuinely does not matter to them what “israel” does or how many Palestinians are murdered. Because the entire point of mainstream and legacy media is to manufacture our consent for what the u.s. government does.
Manufacturing consent
“It is the primary function of the mass media in the United States to mobilize public support for the special interests that dominate the government and the private sector.” - Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media (Herman & Chomsky, 2002)
In the early 1920s, the journalist Walter Lippman coined the term “manufacture of consent” to describe controlling the public through propaganda. He insisted that the general public couldn’t possibly understand its own interests and that a “specialized class” must instead be the ones to make decisions. Edward Bernays took this further. In his 1928 article The Engineering of Consent, he says that the government needs public approval “and is therefore faced with the problem of engineering the public’s consent to a program or goal.” Legacy and mainstream media are consistently the tool for engineering our consent.
Can we pause for a moment and consider how repulsive that is? Engineering consent. Consent cannot be engineered. You cannot consent to something if you are not accurately informed about it. The term itself betrays its truth: manipulation. They are intentionally manipulating us so that we sit quietly by or happily cheer them on while they commit deeply abhorrent acts, all the while claiming that it’s what we want.
I’m sure many journalists, reporters, and media workers might balk at the idea that they are manufacturing our consent, that they’re complicit in this genocide, or that their work upholds u.s. imperialism. I’m sure they would claim that they are unbiased, that their reporting is objective. They wouldn’t be the first to think this. In Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, Deepa Kumar says “Nineteenth-century Orientalist scholars did not necessarily see themselves as agents of empire; they considered themselves, by and large, to be producing disinterested knowledge… Whether consciously or not, Orientalists produced a body of work that aided the project of imperialism.” The same can be said of those who work in media today. Regardless of whether each individual is consciously contributing to u.s. imperialism, they are, on the whole, contributing to a body of work that manufactures consent for brutal u.s. imperialism around the globe and, right now, especially, in Palestine.
How could they not be? Just look at these headlines:
‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7
Attackers laughed as they raped and murdered a woman in Israel on October 7, witness says
Hamas terror attack on Israel was also likely a deliberate provocation to war
Every single one of these headlines is designed to engineer our consent for what “israel” and the u.s. are doing to Palestinians.
What is actually happening, what mainstream and legacy media intentionally fail to report on, is that “israel” is using hellfire missiles, built in our backyards using our tax dollars, to shred the bodies of Palestinians inside hospitals.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is forcibly starving Palestinians, forcing infants to suck on dates because their mothers cannot produce breast milk, forcing parents to watch as their children’s skin stretches tauter and tauter over their bones.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is letting in food and then massacring the Palestinians who try to get it, using weapons provided by the u.s.
What is actually happening is that the u.s. is airdropping food into Gaza with parachutes that don’t open so the food boxes crush Palestinians to death, instead of telling “israel” to allow the thousands of trucks filled with aid into Gaza.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is murdering Palestinians while they fish.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is using bulldozers built in the u.s. to dig up and desecrate the graves of Palestinians.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is using bulldozers built in the u.s. to crush Palestinians to death, pregnant Palestinians who are walking to a hospital, Palestinians who are holding white flags, Palestinians who “israel” has forcibly displaced into that hospital, Palestinians whose bodies are unrecognizable to their families after the bulldozers left.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is using weapons built in and provided by the u.s. to target journalists and their families, sniping them and bombing them, to prevent them from reporting the horrors that “israel” relentlessly commits against Palestinians.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is using weapons built in and provided by the u.s. to target doctors, nurses, medics, and other medical staff, bombing them while they care for their patients, sniping them for refusing to leave their patients.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is using u.s. weapons to target homes, to identify when the father has returned, when the family is all together, and bomb them.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is melting Palestinians with white phosphorous bombs, built in and provided by the u.s.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is liquifying Palestinians’ organs with pressure bombs, built in and provided by the u.s.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is abducting Palestinian children and holding them hostage, without charge.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is raping Palestinian women.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is burning the olive trees.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is bombing refugee camps that they created during the Nakba and Naksa.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is bombing schools.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is bombing mosques.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is bombing churches.
What is actually happening is that “israel” is bombing hospitals.
What is actually happening is that the u.s. and “israel” are trying to convince us that Palestinians who resist this, who take up arms and fight back against “israel,” are terrorists.
What is actually happening is that the u.s. is providing the weapons, funding, and diplomatic cover for “israel” to genocide Palestinians and steal and destroy Palestinian land.
Do you consent to this?
or 2am on Monday, February 12 in Palestine
I write “israel” with a lowercase i and in quotation marks to acknowledge that it is not a legitimate country.“israel” does not have a right to exist. It is an occupying settler-colony built on top of stolen Palestinian land. The land is not “israel.” It is Palestine.
But don’t worry, they streamed “israel’s” defense. Of course.
Notice how this footage is from the drone itself. The IOF uses drones to both kill Palestinians and record their murders. We are only able to see this footage because the resistance shot down the drone.
Western media upholds u.s. imperialism and capitalism all the time, not just in how it talks about Palestine. This essay is focused on Palestine, but please keep in mind that this analysis can and should also be applied to the way that media talks about anything and anyone that does not support u.s. imperialism, including Black people (in the u.s. and globally), Indigenous people everywhere, Muslims, queer and trans people, and disabled people.
In fact, all but the New York Times Company include all three of these investors in their top five. State Street Corporation comes in at number ten for the New York Times Company.
LittleSis is “a grassroots watchdog network connecting the dots between the world’s most powerful people and organizations.”
That’s right, the one that makes airplanes that keep breaking.
The number of shares owned is based on what they owned on December 31; however, the increased investment value is how much those shares (the number owned as of 12/31) went up from October 7, 2023 to April 13, 2024. This was determined using google finance to track gains based on the number of shares owned.
Please don’t ask me to explain what investment values mean in real life. Bread has told me, but I cannot internalize it. Basically money is fake, but look at how big those numbers are!
Boeing’s stock has dropped substantially since the door flew off of their Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Aizeki, Mahmoudi, and Schupfer, 2024)
Genocide was used 14 times.
Genocide was used 33 times.
Genocide was used 132 times.
Genocide was used 220 times.
There is so much to discuss about how the u.s. government continues to target Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and anyone they deem potential “terrorists.” That is beyond the scope of this piece, but I highly recommend Deepa Kumar’s Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: 20 years after 9/11, Arun Kundnani’s The Muslims Are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror, and Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence edited by Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, and Coline Schupfer.
Reese, S. and Lewis, S. (2009). Framing the War on Terror: The Internalization of policy in the US press. Journalism, 10(6), 777-797. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884909344480
Shahwar, D. (2014). Portrayal of the Muslim World in the Western Print Media Post-9/11: Editorial Treatment in “The New York Times” and “The Daily Telegraph.” Pakistan Horizon, 67(3/4), 133-166. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44988714
While the u.s. insists that the war on terror is in response to 9/11, the purpose has always been to establish and maintain u.s. control of oil in the Middle East. This was well-documented even before 9/11 in everything from Department of Defense Planning Guidance and think-tank visions for foreign policy to the intentional domestic targeting of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and anyone else law enforcement suspects of “terrorist activities.”
This quote is so convoluted. I will never not hate it. For anyone else who is too damn tired to make sense of what this man saying, it’s basically that he thought Jews in america were really important in spreading “israeli” propaganda to make americans like “israel.”
The way that zionism functions on college campuses calls for an entirely separate article. I recommend following Students for Justice in Palestine to get a sense of the repression pro-Palestinian students face on campuses, and watching Israelism to learn more about Jewish american indoctrination into zionism. Please be critical when watching Israelism, as the film does normalize Israeli occupation, focuses on human rights over liberation, and centers white Jewish americans.
Laughable considering their reporting consistently aligns with “israeli” talking points.
Instead of, y’know, funding healthcare
Repeated 149 times
Repeated 101 times
From 42:15 to 52:57
Spoiler, they’re not.
In the rare cases that they do acknowledge history, they neutralize it, referring to it as a “conflict” rather than the violent occupation that it is.
Purposefully kept at just above the point of starvation by “israel”
“israel” does not allow most medical supplies and treatments into Gaza and rarely allows Gazans to leave and receive treatment elsewhere. Cancer patients are especially impacted by this.
Even before the current genocide, Gazans did not have consistent access to electricity and many were forced to convert their cars to run on cooking oil.
Referencing international law here is not meant to uphold it, but rather to show its inherent hypocrisy. International law is an extension of imperialism, so of course it protects “israel” despite “israel’s” violations of it. Mainstream media, however, regularly fail to acknowledge this.
Al-Aqsa Flood is the name of the resistance’s operation on October 7.
Not to mention the released statement by Hamas called “Our Narrative” that explains Al-Aqsa Flood.
reed, this is amazing work, thank you for all the time and care you put into it! <3