Western coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza – bias or unprofessionalism?

Publishing unsubstantiated claims, telling only one side of the story, and painting  Palestinians as nothing more than objects in Hamas’s hands are all unprofessional mistakes Western media makes while covering the conflict between Israel and Hamas, media experts and Arab journalists say.

Experts and journalists who spoke to Al Jazeera said the systemic “bias in favour of Israel” is “irreparably damaging” the credibility of news agencies considered “mainstream” in the eyes of Arabs and others.

As Western media organisations “dehumanise Palestinians” and “legitimise Israeli violations of international law” as Israel bombs Gaza, it is glaringly obvious that the vital historical context of the trauma Palestinians have been through for the past 75 years is being left out, experts say.

One-sided

On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on military outposts and communities in southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli officials.

The same day, Israel launched a relentless bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 8,000 people, about 40 percent of whom are children.

It also devastated Gaza’s health sector and flattened much of its infrastructure while strengthening its choke-hold siege by cutting off fuel, water and food – acts that may amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.

United Nations experts say Palestinians in Gaza are facing the risk of genocide.

Western correspondents have gone to Israel where they reported extensively on the grief of Israeli families, but Israel has not allowed foreign journalists to enter Gaza, which means they’re missing a vital aspect of the story.

“If you don’t live in Gaza, if you don’t listen to the prayers Palestinians make when they lose loved ones, if you don’t learn about the life story of loved ones [who have been killed] …then the coverage [of Gaza] won’t be the same [as the coverage of Israel],” Taghreed El-Khodary, an analyst from Gaza, told Al Jazeera from her home in the Netherlands.

This means, she continued, that they “are not just covering the Israeli narrative, but they are living the Israeli narrative”.