By Far Right Watch Cyprus and Genocide Free Cyprus
On 9th October, Francesca Albanese’s latest report was published, dealing with the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine. The report received little to no media coverage in mainstream channels. It is entitled ‘Truth under the rubble’ and deals with the role of the media in the time of genocide. Perhaps not a very pleasant subject for the mainstream media. The report covers three aspects:
- the elimination of Palestinian media workers by Israel under the pretext of ‘terrorism’, aiming to silence Palestinian journalism so as to obscure its crimes and avoid accountability;
- the broader Israeli architecture of information control, censorship, propaganda, genocidal incitement and denial of Israeli crimes;
- and the role of large media platforms in reproducing Israeli narratives and normalising distortions which ultimately legitimised Israel’s war crimes.
Albanese argues that these practices facilitated the commission of genocide and undermined accountability.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed 300 Palestinian journalists and wounded 400+ others, some in indiscriminate attacks and at least 70 in targeted attacks, as reprisal for bearing witness to the genocide, and blocked the passage of ambulances to ensure they bled to death. The report records several instances of Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists in both Gaza and the West Bank claiming that they had targeted Reuters and Al Jazeera correspondents under the pretext of unsubstantiated Hamas affiliation, so as to portray them as legitimate targets. In addition, 710 relatives of journalists have been murdered by Israel over the past three years including children as young as one year old. More than 100 Palestinian journalists were detained and tortured, and threatened with death if they kept reporting. More than 150 key media and telecommunications facilities were destroyed in targeted bombing attacks, which are regarded under international law as civilian infrastructure.
Independent Israeli media was not spared, as many outlets including Haaretz faced sanctions on the pretext of ‘delegitimising Israel’, whilst pro-government media was afforded preferential treatment. Foreign journalists were barred from entering Gaza, apart from staged visits and military embeds, and Al Jazeera was banned from operating inside Israel. Large-scale takedown requests were used to silence social media content that challenged the Israeli narrative and heavy investment was devoted to promoting pro-Israel content and suppressing pro-Palestine mobilisation. Israel paid for advertising campaigns on platforms like X and YouTube dismissing famine reports, generating millions of views before being removed after media scrutiny. Political figures engaged in hate speech and incited genocide, invoking biblical commands and foregrounding Israeli victimhood, with some public figures ironically calling for a holocaust and gas chambers to obliterate Palestinians.
Western media outlets, both public and private, often presumed authoritative and objective, reproduced Israeli narratives and provided privileged media access to Israeli officials. The BBC is identified in the report as one such outlet, using misleading Israeli terminology and statements. In the case of the New York Times, leaked guidance advised its journalists to avoid terms like genocide or ethnic cleansing and even to use ‘Palestine’ very rarely. October 7th was presented as the origin of hostilities and references to the Nakba and decades of occupation and brutalities shrank considerably, as false Israeli claims such as the beheaded babies and the infiltration of UNRWA by terrorists were amplified and reproduced unchallenged. Meanwhile, UN findings and ICJ proceedings were either underreported or disputed and Israeli officials’ genocidal statements were left unmentioned. A typical example was the BBC reporting of the murder of Hind Rajab with the headline ‘Hind Rajab, 6, found dead’. Criticism of Israel was treated as suspect and antisemitic and journalists departing from the pro-Israel narrative faced pressure or dismissal; public events were altered and documentaries withdrawn, including the BBC film on Gaza doctors.
Digital platforms such as Meta and X became gatekeepers of information on Palestine through various systems which amplified pro-Israel content and disappeared anti-Israel criticism. Following a meeting with Netanyahu, Elon Musk described expressions such as ‘from the river to the sea’ and ‘decolonisation’ as ‘genocidal’, whilst Google’s Project Nimbus provided Israel with surveillance and AI capabilities used against Palestinians. These platforms also enabled content by Israeli soldiers celebrating civilian destruction, looting and humiliation of Palestinian detainees; YouTube permitted a song describing Palestinians as rodents with lyrics including ‘One, two, Shoot’ and Google allowed ads denying the famine, discrediting UN reports about the genocide and describing the genocide case before the ICJ as blood libel. The said platforms benefited from $50m in Israeli advertising contracts. The report calls on the international community to investigate funding and partnerships of media groups and digital platforms that disseminate hatred and suppress protected expression, and to prosecute attacks against Palestinian journalists.
Genocide relies not only on destruction of lives but also on killing the truth and silencing the witness. Each one of us has a duty to uphold the truth and bear witness to the gravest crimes of this century.
The full report: https://docs.un.org/en/A/81/249
