The Swiss newspaper “Lotan” said that the Israelis seem indifferent to the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, even though the war they are waging there has left more than 25,000 dead in just 100 days, and it tried to determine the reasons that led to this.
The newspaper begins – in a report by Charlotte Gauthier from Jerusalem – from the story of Ariel Shaki Glick, a teacher whose husband went to war in the north of the country. She has not turned off the lights at night since the Al-Aqsa flood operation on October 7, 2023. She follows the Israeli Channel 12 and the Yedioth Ahronoth website. She has only a vague idea of what is happening in Gaza.
Although she saw some painful news from Gaza through social media, she said while talking about the attack of last October 7, “For me, they were all involved, but 3 months have passed and I am human.”
She added, “Of course, when I see a mother carrying her dead son, I feel sad for her. But at the present time, there is no room for remorse or pity. Now is the time to act. The priority is ensuring our security, for us Israelis. And to achieve that, you have to do what you must.” doing it”.
October 7… endless repetition
This speech – according to the newspaper – reveals a lot about the state of mind of Israeli society, which feels that it is misunderstood by the rest of the world, the further we move away from October 7, 2023, and French-Israeli journalist Charles Enderlin says in Jerusalem, “The Israelis are still completely shocked by what happened in “That day. They are reliving, over and over again, October 7.” He adds, “Israel has suffered its most serious military defeat since its founding, and there are still detainees in Gaza. The population feels distrustful of the government and the army,” and they are suffering from psychological trauma and… After the shock.
According to the newspaper, the media absorbed this shock and harmonized with it. It mentioned the names of the detainees on air, and praised every Israeli soldier killed in Gaza. Three months after the attack, all the information in it still revolves around October 7 and the Israeli vision of the war. All channels have adopted custom logos; Such as: “Strong Together” by Channel 13, and “Together We Will Victory” by Channel 12, and the goal is to unify ranks around the country.
Israeli mother: Of course, when I see the mother (in Gaza) carrying her dead son, I feel sad for her. But right now, there is no room for remorse or compassion. Now is the time to act. The priority is ensuring our security, for us Israelis. To achieve this, you have to do what needs to be done
Arad Nir, who has been a journalist at Channel 12 for more than 30 years, explains frankly how his channel covers Gaza, saying, “We do not show the mourning of civilians, nor the bodies being pulled from the rubble, nor the suffering in the hospitals. Rather, the hospitals are presented as bases.” Background to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). We also do not pay attention to the number of civilian casualties recorded by Hamas, and when we use images from international agencies, we choose the most neutral ones, and we prefer them to the images sent by the Israeli army.”
Our audience is Israeli
The journalist justifies this method with the channel’s audience, saying, “We are an Israeli media outlet and our audience is Israeli, and at this moment they are shocked, so we provide them with the information they need. When I present the news, I try to narrate what is happening on the other side, and show the way foreign media covers Gaza.” “The numbers are going down. The public doesn’t want to hear that.”
Arad Nir explains that this choice is wrong because “Israelis must know what is being done in their name, even if we put moral considerations aside. You can support this or want to make the people of Gaza pay the price, or say this is the only solution to be safe, or reject.” “Doing this in your name, but you have to know. And we don’t provide that information. I’m very disappointed.”
Unlike Rad Nir, Gideon Levy of Haaretz takes the view more harshly, saying, “We are living in the most shameful period in the history of Israeli media. We are free journalists and there is no censorship. However, with the exception of Haaretz, the main newspapers and television channels chose to hide the disaster in Gaza, Because journalists believe they have to do propaganda, as part of the war machine.”
Gideon Levy: We are living in the most shameful period in the history of Israeli media. We are free journalists and there is no censorship. However, with the exception of Haaretz, the main newspapers and TV channels chose to hide the disaster in Gaza, because journalists believe that they have to do propaganda, as part of the war machine.
Gideon Levy compares the Israeli press with the Russian press, saying, “We were mocking their media and their coverage of the war in Ukraine. But they are subject to the regime of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, and they have no other choice. This is not our case, and our duty is not to please the Israelis, or obtain their approval regarding “This is war. Our role is to tell the whole story. And we are not doing that.”
No picture from Gaza
Although this journalist was invited every day to debate on Channel 13, he was removed until the end of the war. Because – as he says – “they do not want any opposition voices,” because “the Palestinians and the occupation have been outside the television and media sphere since the establishment of Israel (…) You can watch television for 12 hours straight without seeing a single picture of Gaza. This is crazy,” says Gideon Levy.
Indeed, Anat Saragusti, a journalist and press freedom officer at the Israel Union of Journalists, said that the impact of this gap between Israelis and the rest of the world is serious. “Most of the news is Gaza. People all over the world see the terrible pictures, unlike us Israelis.”
Saragusti: Most of the news is Gaza. People all over the world see the terrible images, unlike us Israelis.
In Israel itself, the way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is managing this war and its impact is raising increasing controversy, but the issue at hand is the lack of allocations for the displaced and social care in the new government’s budget, but also the fact that “the goals of the war have not been achieved,” as Anat says. Saragusti.