The war of images in Gaza
Audio 02:33
Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza City, May 14, 2021 © AP / Hatem Moussa
By: Amaury de Rochegonde Follow
6 mins
Back to the journalistic coverage of the clashes in Jerusalem and Gaza, and its consequences on the media themselves, on the Palestinian and Israeli side.
Publicity
The International Federation of Journalists questioned on Thursday, May 13th the international bodies on "
the destructive and repeated attacks against the media and the Palestinian and foreign journalists
".
This federation, the IFJ, which brings together 600,000 members from 150 countries, has notably denounced the arrests of journalists who have sometimes been threatened or beaten by Israeli forces.
For its part, Reporters Without Borders counted around fifteen wounded Palestinian journalists and said that around twenty media had been bombarded by the IDF.
After the rockets fired at Israel by Hamas, the Israeli army responded by attacking buildings of the Islamist movement that it suspects of being arms depots.
► Also to listen: Pierre Razoux: "A punctual Israeli ground intervention in Gaza is always possible"
And among them was the Al Shorouk Tower which was destroyed in Gaza and housed Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas TV, and seven other media.
It should be noted that Israel was particularly angry with this channel since the Shin Beth, its internal security service, had identified it as a recruiting relay for Islamist fighters via signs of recognition on the screen.
Another tower, housing the
Palestine Daily News
or the Al Arabya channel as well as twelve other Palestinian media, was also bombed on Tuesday.
Propaganda versus propaganda
So of course, on the Israeli side, we point to the pro-terrorist and anti-Israel propaganda shown by the Hamas channels.
But the clashes do not only take place in Gaza since in Israel itself, in Bat Yam, the Israeli public television station K11 filmed live the lynching of a suspected Arab driver by right-wing Jewish groups.
It took 15 minutes for someone to come and rescue him, according to The
Times of Israel
.
While this channel broadcast this scene live, some Israeli media do not reflect very much on the plight of the Palestinian victims.
I24 News, for example, focuses on the nine Israeli victims killed by 180 Hamas rockets not intercepted by "Iron Dome", including a six-year-old child, but barely mentions 119 killed in Gaza, including about thirty children.
► See also: Israel intensifies its raids in Gaza, new night riots
When it comes to propaganda, Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson Ofir Gendelman is no exception.
The
New York Times
says it had to remove from Twitter a video purported to show Hamas rocket fire in Gaza, which was actually three years ago and came from Syria or Libya.
Now, the whole difficulty for journalists is not to put on an equal footing a State, with very important military and communications control means, and a Palestinian people who remain the main victim of the conflict.
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Culture
Media
Israelo-Palestinian conflict