In a recent position paper titled “Israeli Media Misinformation During the War on Gaza: Strategies, Tools, and Prospects for Palestinian Confrontation,” the Center for Political and Development Studies revealed the extent of systematic media campaigns aimed at distorting the image of Palestinians since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
The report emphasized that this media war was no less dangerous than the military operations themselves, as it was used to justify attacks, distort the resistance, and reduce international support for Gaza.
The report explained that the occupation relied on a set of integrated media strategies, including whitewashing crimes and portraying them as legitimate defenses, demonizing the Palestinian resistance and accusing it of using civilians as human shields, flooding the media with contradictory statements to confuse public opinion, rewording terminology to soften the impact of the news, and exploiting Western sentiment by highlighting the suffering of settlers while ignoring images of Palestinian children and victims.
The report noted that traditional media outlets, military spokespeople, fake accounts, short films, and international public relations firms played a pivotal role in promoting this narrative, asserting that these tools initially enabled the occupation to steer Western public opinion and reduce solidarity with Gaza.
In contrast, the report highlighted the effectiveness of resistance media, with channels such as Al-Aqsa, Palestine Today, and Al-Mayadeen playing a pivotal role in presenting an alternative narrative, broadcasting live footage of the massacres, and documenting the testimonies of field journalists, helping to expose Israeli deception to the world. The report also noted the vital role of social media and global solidarity campaigns such as #GazaUnderAttack and #AllEyesOnRafah, which succeeded in breaking the media blockade imposed on Gaza. It also highlighted the role of Palestinian and Arab communities abroad, which organized widespread protests in London, New York, and Berlin.
The assessment noted that international human rights reports, such as those issued by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have been a fundamental pillar in refuting the Israeli narrative, providing field and legal evidence of the targeting of defenseless Palestinian civilians and vital facilities, despite the occupation’s attempts to cast doubt on them.
The paper offers practical recommendations to strengthen the fight against media disinformation, including:
establishing digital monitoring centers to monitor and expose fake news in different languages;
training Palestinian journalists on news verification and secure field documentation methods; enhancing the production of multilingual digital content to directly reach global audiences; unifying Palestinian media discourse and linking it to international law to counter the Israeli narrative; and developing Arab-Islamic media alliances to support the Palestinian cause globally.
In concluding its paper, the Center emphasized that confronting Israeli media deception is not merely a media issue, but rather part of the national battle to defend the Palestinian narrative, protect defenseless citizens, and strengthen international solidarity with Gaza.
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