If the Media Can’t Cover Israel and Antisemitism Fairly, How Can We Trust It at All?

Western media hostility toward Israel is hardly a virgin conversation within American Jewish circles. Coverage of the ongoing fighting between Israel and the Iranian regime’s patrons, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi group Allah Ansar, as in previous conflicts, features rampant bias.

In an appearance on MSNBC two days after Oct. 7, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt accused mainstream media of being complicit in a world that allowed the “dehumanization of Israelis and sanitized the terrorism of Hamas.”

In an appearance on MSNBC two days after Oct. 7, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt accused mainstream media of being complicit in a world that allowed the “dehumanization of Israelis and sanitized the terrorism of Hamas.”

This pro-Hamas sentiment and willingness to uncritically accept whatever narrative the “Gaza Health Ministry” passes along is obvious to even casual readers. When citing Palestinian casualty figures, outlets like the Associated Press accept Palestinian casualty numbers from the “ministry,” which editors know very well means Hamas. In stark contrast, when sources from the Israel Defense Forces provide figures of enemy casualties, disclaimers that no evidence accompanied the data are often added.

This pro-Hamas sentiment and willingness to uncritically accept whatever narrative the “Gaza Health Ministry” passes along is obvious to even casual readers.  

Earlier this month, Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz fired back at headlines from numerous publications that blindly regurgitated claims from the Hamas officials accusing the Israeli military of targeting a school, killing 93 civilians. He noted on X that “the school hit in Gaza is a) not in session; b) was hit at 5 am; c) there is no schooling in Gaza; d) was a Hamas command center.” Podhoretz called the dispatches a “blood libel.” 

Stateside, Jews have endured hundreds of Charlottesvilles on American city streets and university campuses since the Hamas attack, where leftist and Islamist demonstrators call for “global intifada,” “from the river to the sea,” and other genocidal terms. In numerous instances, they have physically assaulted Jews. Unlike with the neo-Nazi march of seven years ago, coverage of pro-Hamas protests has never been 24/7, not even when a Jewish senior citizen at a  rally in Thousand Oaks, California was assaulted and killed. When covering the protests at Columbia, UCLA, and other campuses, mainstream media regularly engages in both sides-ism.

With mainstream media insufficiently interested, it’s no wonder President Joe Biden, speaking last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, sought to appease the progressive flank of the party, declaring: “The protesters outside have a good point.” Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland held off for nearly eight months before convening a press conference to condemn the antisemitic violence and his Department of Justice has been mum since.

The Democrats’ presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, took even longer to issue a single statement of condemnation of the protests — and that didn’t materialize until a protest two blocks from the Capitol during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last month involved assaults on police officers and federal property desecration.

The Jewish organizational world exacerbates the problem by showing insufficient concern. Because the community has historically supported Democrats in presidential elections going back a century, there is less of an incentive to cast a critical eye on how the media ignores or distorts domestic issues not directly related to Israel, since the resulting narrative is generally in line with their political views. This is confusing, at best, since for nearly a decade many of these voters have expressed grave concerns about the impact the proliferation of “misinformation” has had on the American polity.

Perhaps the most vivid example of mainstream media malfeasance this year has been the ridiculing and suppressing of details of Biden’s cognitive decline. “‘Cheapfake’ Biden videos enrapture right-wing media, but deeply mislead,” declared one Washington Post “analysis.” Co-author and in-house “fact checker” Glenn Kessler called the video clips “especially pernicious” and gave them “Four Pinocchios,” its harshest rating. When this brazen blocking effort collapsed and Biden eventually agreed to step aside for Harris, the handwaving away of the acuity issue immediately resumed. No questions have been posed as to why Biden, no longer fit to campaign, is still entrusted with the nuclear football until January.

If a young neighbor we paid to mow our lawn repeatedly failed to show up, would we then rely on that same individual to feed our cats while we were out of town for two weeks? It’s way past time Greenblatt and the rest of the community digested that the rotten apple, which is the mainstream media’s Israel and antisemitism coverage, has spoiled the entire barrel and invest in more reliable alternatives.

Jason Epstein is president of Southfive Strategies LLC, an international public affairs consultancy (@Southfive).