The Invasion of Rafah

Media bias in covering Palestine

When I was only 13 years old, I saw my people in Gaza slaughtered by 150 occupation shells on evening news, as if our death was casual, replaced a few days later by false ideas of “peace talks.” I sobbed as mangled body parts were gathered and buried. As lies were told to excuse those who only referred to my people as “terrorists” deserving of slaughter.

Now, for the past four months, the trauma is born again: after 126 days over 30,000 Palestinians, 14,000 children, have been slaughtered, with world governments, especially my own, not only excusing this Genocide but actively enabling Palestinian death. 

However, if you were to turn on the news, or read the paper, you would only see memorials for the Israeli hostages or victims from October 7^th, with no mention of the two-hundred Palestinians murdered every day, no mention of Palestinians using animal feed as food as they slowly starve, and no mention of the children trapped under rubble – in fact, many outlets refer to Palestinian children as “minors” to mitigate the acts of violence perpetrators by the occupation. If you turned on the news, you would not see the images have have permanently altered myself, and all Palestinians, images of our dead children choking on rubble day after day. Israeli death is disproportionately emphasized, but for Palestinians the news seems to forget historical context, colonialism, and the fact that Palestinians did not magically become refugees on their own. If Palestinians are somehow proved to be inherently violent, beasts in a man-made cage, then our slaughter can be justified to the west. How does this happen? Look to the writers of the pieces – if you see “Israel-Hamas War” you can undoubtedly recognize it was not written by a Palestinian.

Palestine's systematic oppression is an institutionalized regime, so it does not help that Palestinians have been denied the right to narrate our own story.  It seems that the parameters of Palestinian voices are confined to footage of the dead accompanying crying voices. However, when it comes to telling our opinions of peace plans, sharing our narrative on the political conflict, or even asking for as much air time as pro-Israel voices, we are often met with silence or complete rejection. 

Disparities between Palestinian voices and others in media are abundantly clear. On CNN, media coverage by Israeli officials outnumbers Palestinian voices more than 17-to-one. When Palestinians, or pro-Palestinians, do rarely appear on the news, they are questioned, asked for evidence, and interrogated even as they are simultaneously asked to condemn Hamas four months after we have watched our children die in the streets. Beyond silencing Palestinian activists and leaders, there is the challenge of shifting misleading discourse that surrounds the language in which Palestine is reported. This goes far beyond the current crisis but extends to the full length of Palestinian occupation.       

During the First and Second Intifadas (1987-2005), meta-analysis shows violent language used to describe Palestinians while passively discussing Israelis. One study showed that from 30,000 articles during that period, the use of violent language in describing Palestinians is over twice as high. The even a greater disparity today is the language used to describe tragedy or even recognize those subjugated to atrocities. Headlines often read “Israel-Hamas Fight”, which completely erase Palestinians from the discussion – the authors, anyone but a Palestinians. When Israeli children are killed, coverage will be extensive features on their lives and potential – rightfully so, but so do Palestinian children slaughtered during an ongoing genocide – instead Palestinian children “die”, while Israeli children are “killed”. Without accurate depictions of the situations’ asymmetry, Americans cannot truly understand ongoing injustices or hold our government accountable for enabling violations through steadfast defense of Israel.

Our government’s refusal to intervene reflects public opinion swayed by chronic media bias. Polling reveals growing sympathy for Palestinians among younger Americans informed by social media. In contrast, traditional media coverage paints a distorted picture leaving older Americans with warped, anti-Palestinian perspectives. When establishment outlets downplay overwhelming Palestinian deaths while spotlighting comparatively few Israeli losses, they propagate an illusion that violence is mutual rather than one-sided domination. Without understanding Palestinians’ humanity or the conflict’s true power dynamic, Americans broadly tolerate our government’s complicity in oppression.

Palestine is slowly being wiped from existence. This is not hard to see; simply type "Palestine Map" on Google, and you will see differences over time. But we are not going anywhere. It was not always clear that Palestinians would remember ourselves, but we must be given the platform to discuss our oppression. A large part of this platform involves having the chance to challenge our oppressors without facing criticism or gaslighting. It is our right in the movement for freedom, dignity, and liberation.