Letter to the Editor

Media narratives on Israel and Palestine are far from one-sided 

*In response to this article: Western journalist has failed Palestine*

By Elijah Shiffman

A recent Poly Post op-ed claims that “Western journalism has failed Palestine”. While acknowledging there is suffering of Palestinians and deserves to be reported, framing the issue in this way ignores a central fact: perspectives are subjective, and the Israeli/Jewish perspective can just as easily, if not more so, argue the media are biased against them. 

On many occasions, media outlets have misconstrued facts, rushed to judgment and failed to equally acknowledge the Israeli viewpoint. One significant example was the claim that Israel bombed the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, though after further investigation, this was overturned and noted as a Hamas rocket that fell on its own territory–striking the hospital and killing 471 people.   

More recently, The New York Times published a photo of a seemingly malnourished baby to fuel claims of mass starvation in Gaza, only to later reveal the boy’s appearance is due to suffering from “cerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and another muscular disorder.”  

Other examples demonize Israel, fail to acknowledge its attempts at peace and continue to rely on internal reports from Hamas-run media, a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.  

Bias is in the eye of the beholder, and the truth is that no single narrative captures the complexity of this decades-long conflict. 

Even more disturbing throughout the op-ed are the assertions of Israel committing a genocide against the Palestinian people. These claims have been dismantled by the world’s most credible court: The International Court of Justice.  

In response to the massacre Hamas brought onto the Israeli civilian population Oct. 7, 2023 (an attack in which more than 1,200 people were murdered, more than 250 were taken hostage into Gaza and 48 are still being held), the Israel Defense Forces have taken numerous actions to limit the amount of casualties in Gaza.  

These efforts include notifying and evacuating civilians of military strikes, as well as providing and establishing field hospitals, all while Hamas intentionally makes it difficult to limit Gazan civilian harm by starting an urban war, using human shields, and routinely attacking Gazan civilians. 

Historically, Israel has pursued peace by offering statehood through the Oslo process, Camp David and later proposals. All of these were rejected by Palestinian leadership. Framing Israel’s actions as “genocide” diminishes the meaning of the term, ignores context and fuels prejudice against Israelis and Jews globally.  

This has resulted in a measurable rise in antisemitic violence both in the US and worldwide.  A large sum of this has fallen onto college campuses, like ours, across the nation, as Hillel International has tracked more than 2,300 antisemitic incidents in just this past school year.  

None of this erases Palestinian suffering or excludes Israeli missteps. But reducing a complex reality to one-sided accusations denies readers the fuller truth. Journalists, including student journalists, have a duty to inform with nuance, not amplify the loudest slogans and voices, especially when we’ve seen them cause harm on college campuses like ours.