Imbalanced reporting on Israel is hurting us
Why is only half the story of the conflict in Israel reaching major Western news outlets?
On May 11, Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American Journalist, was killed by a bullet in Jenin, Israel.
That sentence is the only one I can confidently write about her death. We remain uncertain about who fired the shot, whether it was fired intentionally, or any other specifics around her tragic death. With the way things are currently going, we are unlikely to know the answer to these questions for some time. However, this uncertainty has not prevented the media from apportioning blame for Abu Akleh’s death on Israel. Al Jazeera and other news outlets immediately proclaimed that Israeli forces had killed Abu Akleh. Since her death, the Palestinian Authority has refused to cooperate with the Israeli government to investigate her death, including restricting access to the bullet.
As is so often the case with Western reporting on the Hamas-Israel conflict, the media renders a verdict long before the forensic evidence does. And just as is so often the case, the story is missing the broader context of the region's unique dynamics.
Abu Akleh was killed during a clash between the IDF and Hamas during a raid on Jenin. IDF raids into Jenin began in April as part of operation Break The Wave, an ongoing effort to quell the recent rise of terrorist attacks in Israel that began mid-March. This backdrop of violence has been largely omitted from reporting on Abu Akleh’s death and Western headlines.
Since late March, 18 Israelis have been murdered in terrorist attacks, including most recently on May 5, when an attack in Elad left three dead and eight injured. Abu Akleh’s death is absolutely deserving of news coverage and conversation. This is the case not only because of the tragedy of her death but also because of the broader conversation that coverage of it opens up around how the news handles Israel.
If this is the first time you are hearing about the number of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks in the past two months, you are not alone. Unless you are in a Jewish or Israel-focused space, it is unlikely that you would have come across these numbers. Furthermore, when it does happen, Western reporting of these deaths can become difficult to decipher, such as the trend of including the terrorist among the numbers of those killed in the attack. The failure to report accurately or consistently on the state of affairs in Israel creates a dangerous informational asymmetry that further propels misinformation around Israel.
Witnessing the haste with which the media has jumped to place all blame for Abu Akleh’s death, despite a lack of evidence, on Israel is reminiscent of only a year ago. During the May 2021 war with Hamas, coverage of Israel was fixated on a so-called “power imbalance” between the two sides of the conflict, particularly regarding Israel’s use of the Iron Dome, an argument that, when broken down, appears to take issue with Israel’s desire to protect her citizens from rockets fired by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization.
As things stand, it appears highly unlikely that we will get any answers on who fired the shot that killed Abu Akleh, or at the very least, not soon. And while determining an answer to this question would likely bring solace to her family and allow Israel to know how to proceed, the damage has already been done as far as the media goes.
In recent years, Western headlines have painted Israel as a nation that can do only wrong. They have reinforced this notion by attempting to impose North American racial frameworks onto a situation that is only marginally comparable at best. Through the failure to report in a balanced way on terrorist attacks against Israelis, a narrative has been created and reinforced that Israeli actions, such as the raid on Jenin, are spontaneous or an overreaction in all cases. This is not only untrue but also highly harmful.
One year ago, when the most recent war with Hamas was taking place, the information imbalance resulted in Jews in Europe and North America being verbally and physically assaulted. The media should recognize their complicity in the spread of misconceptions about the state of affairs in Israel and stop publishing headlines which confer blame on Israel when blame cannot yet be apportioned while simultaneously failing to report on the increasing numbers of dead at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.
Sadie, I am so glad you have written about this. I have been very concerned about the reporting since Abu Akleh's death and wondering about the consequences to Israel due to the biased nature of the reporting. As always, you offer an important perspective - many thanks!