Israel’s media amplifies war rhetoric, ignores Gaza’s suffering

Last Thursday, conscionable days aft helium had ordered strikes upon Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood extracurricular Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital and spoke of his outrage that the gathering had been deed successful an Iranian counterstrike.

“They’re targeting civilians due to the fact that they’re a transgression regime. They’re the arch-terrorists of the world,” helium said of the Iranian government.

Similar accusations were levelled by different Israeli leaders, including the president, Isaac Herzog, and absorption person Yair Lapid, during the struggle with Iran, which ended with a ceasefire brokered by United States President Donald Trump connected Monday.

However, what was missing from these leaders was an acknowledgement that Israel itself has attacked astir each hospital successful Gaza, wherever much than 56,000 radical person been killed, oregon that the Strip’s healthcare strategy has been pushed to adjacent full collapse.

It was an omission noticeable successful overmuch of the Israeli property reporting connected the Beersheba infirmary attack, with fewer mentions of the parallels betwixt it and Israel’s ain attacks connected hospitals successful Gaza. Instead, overmuch of the Israeli media has supported these attacks, either seeking to downplay them, oregon justifying them by regularly claiming that Hamas bid centres prevarication nether the hospitals, an accusation Israel has never been capable to prove.

Israel’s siege upon Gaza, supported by overmuch of its media, has pushed the colonisation to the brink of famine [File: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Weaponising suffering

According to analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera, a media ecosystem exists successful Israel that, with a fewer exceptions, some amplifies its leaders’ calls for warfare portion simultaneously reinforcing their claims of victimhood, each portion shielding the Israeli nationalist from seeing the suffering Israeli forces are inflicting connected Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

One Israeli journalist, Haaretz’s media analogous Ido David Cohen, wrote this month that “reporters and editors astatine Israel’s large quality outlets person admitted much than once, particularly successful backstage conversations, that their employers haven’t allowed them to contiguous the humanitarian situation successful Gaza and the suffering of the colonisation there”.

“The Israeli media … sees its occupation arsenic not to educate, it’s to signifier and mould a nationalist that is acceptable to enactment warfare and aggression,” writer Orly Noy told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem. “It genuinely sees itself arsenic having a peculiar relation successful this.”

“I’ve seen [interviews with] radical who lived adjacent areas wherever Iranian missiles had hit,” Noy added. “They were fixed a batch of abstraction to speech and explicate the impact, but arsenic soon arsenic they started to criticise the war, they were unopen down, rather rudely.”

Last September, a ailment brought by 3 Israeli civilian nine organisations against Channel 14, 1 of Israel’s astir watched tv networks, cited 265 quotes from hosts they claimed encouraged warfare crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide. Among them, concerning Gaza, were the phrases “it truly needs to beryllium full annihilation” and “there are nary innocents.”

A fewer months earlier, successful April, the transmission was again criticised wrong the Israeli media, this clip for a unrecorded antagonistic labelled “the terrorists we eliminated”, which made nary favoritism betwixt civilians and fighters killed, the media monitoring mag 7th Eye pointed out.

Analysts and observers described however Israel’s media and politicians person weaponised the horrors of the past suffering of the Jewish radical and person moulded it into a communicative of victimhood that tin beryllium aimed astatine immoderate geopolitical hostile that circumstances let – with Iran looming ample among them.

“It isn’t conscionable this war,” Noy, an exertion with the Hebrew-language Local Call website, said. “The Israeli media is successful the concern of justifying each war, of telling radical that this warfare is indispensable for their precise existence. It’s an ecosystem. Whatever the authorization is, it is perfectly right. There is nary borderline for doubt, with nary country for disapproval from the inside. To spot it, you person to beryllium connected the outside.”

“The satellite has allowed Israel to enactment arsenic immoderate benignant of brainsick bully to bash immoderate it wants, whenever it wants,” Noy added. “They tin nonstop their troops into Syria and Lebanon, ne'er caput Gaza, with impunity. Israel is fine. Israel is bulletproof. And wherefore wouldn’t they deliberation that? The satellite allows it, past radical are shocked erstwhile Iran strikes back.”

The Israeli media mostly serves arsenic a instrumentality to manufacture consent for Israel’s actions against the Palestinians and successful neighbouring countries, portion shielding the Israeli nationalist from the suffering its victims endure.

Exceptions bash exist. Israeli titles specified arsenic Noy’s Local Call and +972 Magazine often diagnostic sum highly captious of Israel’s warfare connected Gaza, and person conducted in-depth investigations into Israel’s actions, uncovering scandals that are lone reported connected months aboriginal by the planetary media. Joint reporting from Local Call and +972 Magazine has revealed that the Israeli subject was utilizing an AI system to make bombing people lists based connected predicted civilian casualties. Another study recovered that the Israeli subject had falsely declared full Gaza neighbourhoods arsenic evacuated, which past led to the bombing of civilian homes successful areas that were inactive inhabited.

A much celebrated illustration is the wide regular Haaretz, which regularly criticises Israel’s actions successful Gaza. Haaretz has faced a government boycott implicit its sum of the war.

“It’s not new,” Dina Matar, prof of governmental connection and Arab media astatine SOAS University of London, said. “Israeli media has agelong been pushing the thought that they [Israel] are the victims portion calling for actions that volition let them to contiguous greater victimhood [such arsenic attacking Iran]. They often usage emotive connection to picture a onslaught connected an Israeli infirmary that they’ll ne'er usage to picture an Israeli onslaught connected a infirmary successful Gaza.”

Take Israeli media sum of the siege of bluish Gaza’s past remaining functioning healthcare facility, the Kamal Adwan Hospital, successful December.

While descriptions of the attacks connected the infirmary from United Nations peculiar rapporteurs spoke of their “horror” astatine the strikes, those successful the Israeli press, successful outlets specified arsenic Ynet oregon The Times of Israel, alternatively focused astir exclusively upon the Israeli military’s claims of the numbers of “terrorists” seized.

Among those seized from the infirmary were aesculapian staff, including the manager of Kamal Adwan, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who has since been tortured successful an Israeli subject prison, his lawyer antecedently told Al Jazeera.

In contrast, Israeli sum of the Soroka Hospital onslaught successful Beersheba astir universally framed the deed arsenic a “direct strike” and foregrounded the acquisition of the evacuated patients and healthcare workers.

Palestinian children respond arsenic they person nutrient cooked by a foundation room successful Gaza City, June 21, 2025 [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]

In this environment, Matar said, Netanyahu’s practice of Israel arsenic location to a “subjugated people” reinforced a presumption that Israelis person agelong been encouraged to clasp of themselves, adjacent amid the decades-long concern of Palestinian land.

“No 1 questions what Netanyahu is saying due to the fact that the implications of his code marque consciousness arsenic portion of this larger humanities narrative; 1 that doesn’t let for immoderate different [narrative], specified arsenic the Nakba oregon the suffering successful Gaza,” the world said.