What remains of the Israeli media*

By Tanya Reinhart**

29 May 2005

Tanya Reinhart shows how the Israeli media have become uncritical mouthpieces of the Israeli regime, regurgitating without questions Israeli security sources' stories of events in Lebanon and Gaza. She concludes: "the spokesmen of the Israeli regime write the news, the media print and broadcast it and the analysts recycle it. Those who insist on knowing what is really happening must also read the Guardian and al-Jazeera daily."

In the 1960s there were many jokes in Israel about the "Voice of the UAR (United Arab Republic) from Cairo", which broadcasted news in broken Hebrew, written by spokesmen of the Egyptian regime. The absurdity of these broadcasts enhanced the credibility of the IDF [Israeli army] spokesmen in our [Israeli] eyes. Today, we ourselves are not all that far from the "Voice of the UAR", and in fluent IDF Hebrew.

On 9 May, we heard that the Israeli army accidentally fired a shell into Lebanese territory. Hizbullah responded with a single Katyusha shell carefully aimed at the industrial zone of the northern Israel town of Shlomi, which was deserted on the eve of Independence Day. At the end of that week (May 13), the Israeli army announced that it was forced to shoot at Lebanese shepherds. Hizbullah claimed that the fire was directed at houses in the village of Shuba and returned fire, without casualties.

The IDF responded with tanks and aircraft, and announced that it had destroyed four positions, with casualties on the Hizbullah side. "Security sources" explained that Hizbullah was trying to provoke Israel into a confrontation, and even provided the analysis: Hizbullah was trying to consolidate its position in the approaching local elections in Lebanon. They assured us that Israel was making an effort not to get drawn into an escalation. The newspapers published and the columnists recycled this story and analysis in unison.

Only later, in the following week, did it emerge from Fishman's column in the Yediot Ahronot Saturday Supplement that, in reality, "in Israel they decided to test how high Hizbullah was willing to raise the flame this time". For that reason, two of the positions that were destroyed were outside of the Har Dov sector, within which the conventions established following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon allow the two sides to operate. But "Hizbullah did not take the bait and contented itself with 12 shells that landed outside of the Israeli army posts, without causing damage"(1). The Israeli army did not give up. At the end of the week it was forced, once again, to shoot at the anonymous shepherds, and to operate inside Lebanon. Once again, the media reported only the Israeli army's version. No analyst wondered whether it was Israel that was trying to heat up the north, and maybe even hinder Hizbullah in the elections in Lebanon.

Last Wednesday (18 May), there were several mortar attacks on Gush Katif. The "security sources", followed by the media, explained that this was an attempt by Hamas to improve its position in the upcoming Palestinian elections, but that the Israeli army, for its part, was trying to maintain the calm. It seemed quite natural to all analysts and commentators that Hamas, like Hizbullah, believes that the way to consolidate its strengthening position and to do well in the approaching elections is to create a military confrontation with Israel and thus to incur the wrath of their own people, the USA and the rest of the world.

No commentator bothered to mention the explanation that Hamas itself provided. A completely different version appeared in the British Guardian, for example. Hamas said that it had been responding to Israel's constant violations of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreements. What ignited the current eruption was an incident that, in their eyes, was the Israeli army's assassination of a Hamas activist at dawn on Wednesday, an incident that the army denies and describes as a "work accident" (i.e. the man blew himself up accidentally while preparing explosives)(2). Even if the media cannot decide between contradictory versions of a specific incident, the fact still remains that the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings determine that Israel will stop all military actions against Palestinians. Nothing of this was realized. The Israeli army continues to arrest, to assassinate, to enter villages and even to kill children.

The political echelon above the army the prime minister is careful, for its part, to keep us occupied exclusively with the disengagement. On Tuesday 17 May, the television news showed Sharon touring the Nitzanim area, rebuking those responsible for preparing the evacuation and urging them to work without waiting for money or authorization. Only at the end of the week was it casually reported in the column of Barnea and Schiffer in the Yediot Ahronot Saturday Supplement that "journalists were not invited on this tour. Instead a camera team from the government's media office was assigned to the tour. The rebuke was nothing but a show for the camera."(3)

The disengagement, as we know, has already been postponed from July to mid-August. When the previous date was set, the claim was that the evacuation had to be completed before the beginning of September, when the children of Gush Katif need to start school. It is likely that there are those who have begun to wonder whether the disengagement will indeed take place. The prime minister found it necessary to produce a propaganda reel to strengthen the faith of the sceptics, and it seems completely natural to everyone that the television will broadcast this government media film as independent news.

As with the "Voice of the UAR from Cairo", the spokesmen of the Israeli regime write the news, the media print and broadcast it, and the analysts recycle it. Those who insist on knowing what is really happening, must also read the Guardian and al-Jazeera daily.

Notes

(1) Alex Fishman, Yediot Ahronot Saturday Supplement, 20 May 2005.

(2) Agencies in Gaza, the Guardian, 19 May 2005.

(3) Nahun Barnea and Shimon Schiffer, Yediot Ahronot Saturday Supplement, 20 May 2005.