Opinion: The Palestinian is always accused of his humanity, and it is easy to label him as a terrorist

Author: Moayad Tanina

“If wars begin with lies, then peace can begin with the truth,” said journalist Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, in his talk about the importance of telling the truth and not remaining silent about it. Perhaps that is what we, Palestinians, need in our battle to For freedom and confronting the misleading media narrative that dehumanizes us and sides with the occupation in its narrative.

As the open battle in Gaza continues, it is clear that things will not return to what they were before October 7, 2023, at all levels, given the unprecedented act of resistance that the battle caused, with the rise of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the movement. Hamas, by breaching the separation fence and carrying out a qualitative operation, can be considered the most severe and extensive since the establishment of the occupying state in 1948, and with the accompanying narratives and media news that attempted to distort the image of the Palestinian and describe him as a “terrorist.”

Palestinians, it is important to be aware that this battle came as a natural response to the continuation of Zionist attacks on everything Palestinian, land and people, with the continued encroachment of settlement on the land, even if the Al-Aqsa Mosque was the cause of its direct spark, according to what the Commander-in-Chief of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades stated. Muhammad Al-Deif in his speech announcing the battle: “In response to the occupation’s orgy in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In the first moments of the battle, a torrent of visual content invaded social networking sites, coinciding with the Palestinian resistance’s invasion of the occupation army’s camps and settlements in the “Gaza envelope,” which was followed by the entry of dozens of Gazans into these colonies, in a majestic scene, in which the Palestinian saw a “scenario.” Complete liberation of the occupied territory. A dreamy freedom was reflected in the digital space, which had always oppressed, silenced, and prevented the story from being told, and it was clear the heightened feelings of freedom that seeped into the conscience of the Palestinian, who owned the world in both its parts, the real and the virtual.

It was striking in the first hours of this battle that the algorithms of Meta Company, which owns the applications: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, which impose restrictions and restrictions on Palestinian and pro-supportive content, considering it “sensitive content,” did not comprehend the enormous volume of content that was published and broadcast. Therefore, the stream of visual content continued to flow and arouse enthusiasm and interaction among followers regarding what is happening around the Gaza Strip.

Gradually, the dust of the battle cleared, and the sun of the defeat that the occupying state suffered in the first hours shone. When the occupying forces and intelligence agencies woke up from their slumber, the Gazans were still ecstatic in their famous slumber, waiting for what would bring them back to the reality that was harsh on them, and still is.

The moment colonialism and its tools woke up from sleep, the round of revenge against Gaza and its people began. Fighter planes launched raids on those who were safe, and Meta Company led its war on the Palestinian narrative, and began restricting, blocking, and deleting hundreds of publications and accounts. To complete the unjust and biased role against Palestine and its people. The narrative of the vanquished rebel was silenced, and the door was wide open to the narrative of the aggressor occupier.

The Western media was present as an effective tool in this battle, biased towards the colonizer, as usual, and therefore, misleading reports and coverage began to spread, based on demonizing the Palestinian and describing him as a “terrorist,” and humanizing the Zionist and describing him as a victim, which means global solidarity with the occupying state, and granting it the right to Eliminate Hamas forcefully, under the pretext of self-defense.

The first reports biased towards the occupation, which were broadcast by the media, were carefully directed and referred to a set of information directed at the Western public to gain its sympathy and solidarity. Therefore, phrases appeared, such as: “The return of ISIS, the killing of children, the rape of women, the killing of civilians, the kidnapping of the elderly.” Attacking a celebration on the occasion of Eid.” Following this news, American and Western statements of condemnation of the Hamas movement came in, which gives the occupation, at the same time, the green light to respond and defend itself, according to their point of view.

When the novel refutes itself

In his speech in support of the occupying state, US President Joe Biden said: “I really did not think that I would see... I confirmed the pictures of ‘terrorists’ beheading children.” It was clear that the American President based what he said on the narrative of the occupation and the media biased towards it.

Only a few hours passed until the White House announced its retraction of President Joe Biden's statements, because they had not seen any photos, and the authenticity of the reports had not been independently verified.

The reports intended by the White House were initiated by the Israeli channel i24 and international channels, such as CNN, and quoted officers in the occupation army seeing children and women killed by members of Hamas, without these channels themselves confirming what happened, which is considered one of the ABCs. Journalistic work.

While the media confirmed that this news was baseless, especially with the issuance of a statement by the occupation army, in which it said: “There is no information confirming that ‘Hamas’ beheaded children.” Media professionals apologized and retracted what had been previously published, including CNN correspondent Sarah Sidner, who apologized to her followers on the X platform, in which she said: “I have to be more careful with my words. I’m sorry.”

In continuation of the path of lamentation and pleading, to justify and feed the American and Western green light to the occupying state in order to take revenge on the Palestinians, in response to this operation, the account of the occupation prime minister published on the “X” platform, that Netanyahu showed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pictures of three children who were killed and burned by the movement. “Hamas,” and at the bottom of the tweet, he described the “Hamas” movement as “ISIS and terrorist.”

The American journalist, Gascon Hinkle, verified these images himself, and it later became clear that they were created with artificial intelligence, so that the narrative that Netanyahu wanted to promote to demonize the Palestinian and attract more international support and sympathy turned on his head and was used against him.

In the face of the wave of criticism of the White House and the major media institutions that published false and misleading narratives, the White House returned to clarify that its mission is not to verify the truth of these images, as if it were placing responsibility on its ally who misled it. However, the American administration remained committed to its ally and supported him.

On the other hand, and to refute the ongoing occupation narrative that the Hamas movement and its fighters killed children, the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video on its platform on the Telegram website, on October 14, in which resistance members appear, playing and laughing with children, and one of the members helped an infant to stop. He stopped crying and was rocking him to sleep, and one of them was carrying two children and saying to the camera, “Look at the mercy in our hearts. These are the children. We did not kill them as you do.”

Author: Muayad Tanina

As if this is awareness and anticipation of events, and a clear message prepared in advance to the biased world, that real terrorism is practiced by the colonizer who has a profession in killing and torturing children, and that nothing has happened that might be promoted later, as if the resistance knows that this discourse that will be promoted is to justify terrorism and the killing of civilians and children in Gaza from occupation aircraft.

Al-Aqsa Channel, affiliated with the Hamas movement, had broadcast a video showing the release of a woman accompanied by her two children, and the Israeli media, at the time, was quick to interview the woman, thinking that the time had come to expose the “terrorist” practices of Hamas, according to the colonial mentality, which shocked them from Her talk about the resistance fighters carrying the child, and about not harming her or harming her.

The strangeness was evident in international media circles regarding what one of the settlers narrated in an interview about the Qassam officers who were in her house, where one of them asked her permission to eat a “banana,” and that they did not cause her any harm at all. A female settler gave another testimony about the resistance’s gentle treatment and the dialogue that took place between her and them. She then stated that the army bombed a house in which these gunmen were present, along with the settlers’ hostages from the party, and they were all killed.

During the first days, the Zionist media continued to search for actions in its imagination that it wanted to attribute to the Al-Qassam Brigades and Hamas fighters, but the narratives presented by the settlements did not serve it. Rather, they provided content that supported the Palestinian resistance narrative.

Based on the above, it is clear beyond any doubt that the Palestinian is always accused of his humanity, and it is easy to stigmatize him as a terrorist, because his enemy is the child of colonialism and his white ally, and that the Palestinian is forced all the time to prove to the world “how human he is.” This was confirmed by the biased media coverage in this battle.

Source: Institute of Palestinian Studies