[The absence of Palestinians and their advocates from news
coverage isn’t just unfair. As a Jewish American, I think it’s
harmful]
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AMERICANS NEED TO HEAR MORE PALESTINIAN VOICES  
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Sarah Gertler
November 1, 2023
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_ The absence of Palestinians and their advocates from news coverage
isn’t just unfair. As a Jewish American, I think it’s harmful _

Thousands of marchers gather in Philadelphia to support peace and
Palestinian rights. A media report said the march was attended by
"dozens.", Photo by Joe Piette

 

Like many of us, I’ve been glued to media coverage of the terrible
violence in Gaza and Israel.

I was deeply shaken by the brutal killings of over a thousand Israelis
on October 7. The families of Israelis killed and taken hostage
deserve justice for these crimes. But instead of justice, all I’ve
seen from the far-right Israeli government is more death
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Palestinians have already endured 75 years of displacement and
oppression. The 2.2 million Palestinians living in the cramped Gaza
strip have lived for 16 years under an Israeli siege
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chokes their access to food, water, electricity, and movement.

Now Gazans’ access to these necessities has been cut off completely.
Nearly half of the population’s homes have been damaged or destroyed
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by Israeli bombings, and well over 8,000 civilians
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with no end in sight.

As a Jewish American, I don’t feel safer when the Israeli government
breaks international law to bomb families sheltering in refugee camps
or cut off electricity to children in hospitals. I especially don’t
feel safe knowing my U.S. tax dollars are funding these crimes.

And I’m not alone. Recently, I joined a march in Philadelphia
calling for an end to the violence and freedom for the Palestinian
people.

An estimated 10,000 of us showed up — including parents pushing
strollers, friends holding banners together, and elderly couples arm
in arm. We marched against what hundreds of scholars
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have warned is genocide.

It was a historic community call for peace. Yet it was noticeably
absent from local news coverage. Days afterward, the only evidence it
happened was one small news clip noting that “dozens gathered
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— a comic misrepresentation.

“This is not only media suppression, but an erasure of history,”
said Philadelphia organizer Nour Qutyan, who helped assemble the
rally.

Just the previous week, a smaller rally in support of the Israeli
government was covered by a swath of local news outlets. This
eye-opening double standard reflects a much broader silencing of
Palestinians and their advocates in the media.
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During these weeks of Israel’s bombing campaign, leading Palestinian
commentators including Noura Erakat, Omar Baddar, and Yousef Munayyer
have had cable news appearances cut or canceled
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Jewish American author Nathan Thrall had ads for a new book simply
_about_ Palestinians pulled from NPR and the BBC
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Equally noteworthy is the U.S. media’s passive treatment of
Palestinian deaths
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While headlines note when Israelis are “killed,” they often say
that Palestinians simply “die,” without saying how.

According to a 2019 study on 50 years of coverage, U.S. headlines are
also more than twice as likely
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to cite Israeli sources — including documented disinformation
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— than Palestinian sources.

This bias isn’t only unfair — it’s harmful.

Polls show the vast majority of Americans across party lines agree
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that our government should call for a ceasefire in Gaza. In Israel,
even the siblings of people killed
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by Hamas are calling for peace, not war. Instead of uplifting these
voices, many media outlets are inciting more violence.

By “silencing any criticisms of Israel,” Qutyan warns that
“editors who are meant to uphold journalistic integrity, truth, and
the so-called ethics of news media” are instead “co-signing
genocide” in Gaza.

In the coming weeks, I will remain glued to the coverage of the
violence that my tax dollars are funding. As a Jewish American, I
demand life and freedom for Palestinians — and coverage which
reflects that.

* Palestinian Voices; Media Coverage of Gaza and Israel;
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