Biased coverage of Palestinian-Israeli war by mainstream media

As usual in each Israeli-Palestinian escalation, the mainstream media like the BBC, CNN and other outlets show their bias in favor of Israel against Palestine. The recent episode of this coverage of the ongoing military escalation between the Palestinians and Israelis in the Gaza Strip and other occupied Palestinian territories is no different, as these media outlets have been violating the journalistic ethics of objectivity in order to provide a pro-Israel narrative.

In his interviews with various British and American news outlets, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, former head of the PLO Mission to the US, and Strategic Affairs Advisor to the president of Palestine, Husam Zomlot, was asked repeatedly about condemning Hamas’ military operation against the Israeli occupation. He strongly condemned the ways and the questions that focus only on Israel without paying attention to the violations against the Palestinian civilians by the occupying Israeli forces.

This is why we refuse the condemnation paradigm repeated by mainstream media for decades including on @BBCNews last night. pic.twitter.com/LervbPPyZT

— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) October 9, 2023

BBC presenter Lewis Vaughan Jones asked Zomlot, “You condemned Israel for killing civilians and you won’t condemn Hamas for civilians?” Zomlot replied, “How many times you have interviewed Israeli officials, Lewis? Hundreds of times. How many times Israel has committed war crimes right live on your own cameras? Do you start by asking them to condemn themselves? Have you? You don’t.”

The same question was raised by CNBC anchorman Steve Sedgwick, who insisted three times that Zomlot criticize Hamas and label it as “terrorist group.” 

Same, same. US mainstream media obsessed with the blame game and anything but tackling the root cause of an occupied people who for decades have been denied their rights to freedom and self-determination. On @CNBC pic.twitter.com/j8kzFlzLFb

— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) October 10, 2023

Meanwhile, in a news story published by the BBC, the term “died” was used when speaking about the death toll of the Palestinians who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. However, the term “killed” was used when it reported about the death toll of Israelis.

There… right there: All you need to know about how western mainstream media dehumanises the Palestinian people. Palestinians "die." Israelis “are killed.” pic.twitter.com/gjgNJESd47

— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) October 10, 2023

In addition, UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer asked the head of the BBC why its journalists don’t refer to Hamas fighters as “terrorists”, the Daily Mail reported on October 9, adding that the BBC refused her demands.

Reporting without verification

The Independent’s Chief International Correspondent Bel Trew reported that Israeli children were beheaded by Hamas militants, while Israeli local i24 News English reported that 40 babies were beheaded.

40 babies murdered. pic.twitter.com/70rpzI8isP

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 10, 2023

Trew was criticized by social media users as “perfect fodder for the racist British media,” while the user @nihalist___ tweeted, “irresponsible journalists just tweeting unsubstantiated none sense for follows and clout become the perfect fodder for the racist British media. hope the few likes were worth you being used to justify more Palestinian deaths.”

However, Trew later tweeted that “foreign media had been told women and children had been decapitated but we had not been shown bodies - which was my response to reports which had gone viral about the 40 babies.”

I just wanted to clarify that I did not tweet 40 babies had been beheaded. I tweeted that foreign media had been told women and children had been decapitated but we had not been shown bodies - which was my response to reports which had gone viral about the 40 babies. I realised… pic.twitter.com/RMYBSJ8BhL

— Bel Trew (@Beltrew) October 11, 2023

Investigative journalist Sulaiman Ahmed said these claims were debunked, noting, “It appears that this is yet another instance of manipulating the public to support the idea of genocide against an entire population.”

40 BABIES PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN BY ISRAEL AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DEBUNKED

There were widespread reports claiming that Hamas had beheaded 40 infants—an utterly horrifying and evil act if true. 

However, in reality, there is no evidence or basis for this assertion, and it has… pic.twitter.com/PPAtV5IkXR

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) October 11, 2023

Violence escalated between the Palestinians and Israelis on October 7, when Palestinian fighters from Hamas launched an unprecedented military operation, called Tufan Al-Aqsa (Flood of Al-Aqsa), against Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied settlements near the Gaza Strip. The military operation is an attempt to end Israel’s violations against Palestinians, who have been deprived of their rights to their lands, and to put an end to the Israeli siege against Gazan residents and violations against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In response, Israel has since launched hundreds of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing 1,385 people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and injuring 6,229 others. Meanwhile, the escalation of violence resulted in the killing of 1,300 Israelis and 2,506 others injured.

In a statement, Egypt’s top Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, slammed the western media coverage, saying that “it is biased against Palestine and its people. Lies that expose the claims of freedoms that the West claims to protect.”

In 2024, western media was criticized over its bias for Israel during the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, which claimed the lives of 2,219 Palestinians, including 556 children.