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How Israels media propaganda dominates America

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By Yaseen Kippie

“Whether Marwan Barghouti sneaking snacks in during his hunger strike is trivial to such a degree that the fact that it’s on American newspapers tells you something about the power of Israeli public relations to control the narrative,”
– Robert Jensen

It is easily noticed that the overwhelming voice covering the Palestinian hunger strike is Israeli media. While this may seem normal for opposing governments to employ their media to influence their own people, Israeli media has a far more reaching effect than merely its own citizens.

Robert Jensen, a professor at the School of Journalism from the University of Texas, recently wrote an article titled ‘How Israel’s media propaganda dominates the American mind’. He outlined the techniques used to further the Israeli Zionist agenda in world media.

“The most important thing to understand about the Israeli occupation of Palestine is that it could not happen without decades of US support – military, economic and diplomatic support. The question is, why is the United States such a consistent friend of Israel, when all the world recognizes the Israeli occupation as illegal and immoral?”

According to Prof Jensen, US policy makers have their own reasons for supporting Israel that are complex.
“Some have to do with ideology and others have to do with strategic considerations in the Middle East. But the American public largely supports the backing of Israel, even though the American public knows next to nothing about the issue.”

The powerful Zionist lobby in the United States is aided by the news media.

“The US news media is supposed to provide timely reports of important events and processes so that the US public can weigh in politically. But in this case, the Israeli propaganda and public relations machine has been so effective while the US news media has been so negligent that the American public knows nothing or if they do know anything, it’s a distorted view of what’s actually happening in Israel and Palestine,” Prof Jensen explained.

Israeli media agencies provide a lot of information on what’s happening in the occupied Palestine territories. The question is, whether the information is an accurate account of what’s happening in these regions.

“We must realize that early on in its history, Israel was seen as the underdog, but by the 1980s, the balance of power shifted and Israel was clearly in charge. Israel accomplished that through some very brutal tactics, most notably, the invasion of Palestinian territories. All of a sudden, Israel didn’t look like this crappy underdog fighting for life, it looked like a regional imperialist state. Israel started putting a lot more time and money into its public relation machinery.”

“In some sense, Israel works just as modern advertising works when it comes to information. You avoid the complexity of the issue and you repeat simplistic phrases over and over again. You try to frame the question so people look at the issue from your point of view. You cultivate the media inside and out. Even though there’s a complex system inside of Israel, the Israeli propaganda is also aimed at the world, especially the United States, because of how crucial US policy is.”

What Israel has been able to do is construct a vision of the world in which it is the innocent victim of Arab aggression. It has framed the discourse to portray the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank as necessary to protect them from this idea of ‘Arab terrorism’.

“What drops out though is the relentless Israeli policy of expansion and its desire to acquire the usable land and resources of Palestine for itself, which is a decades long project. What happens in the US, is that the American public continues to see Israel as a victim, so that all Israeli actions towards Palestine, its military, occupation, killings, settlement policy, all of that drops out and for the US public its simply the poor Israelis fighting against the crazy Arabs.”

An example of Israel utilising propaganda is the exposition of a video that allegedly shows Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti eating during the Palestinian hunger strike. Analysts including Layth Abu Ziyad from Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, have said the video is either old or a fabrication.

Jensen continued: “The Israeli propaganda machine is quite skilled at taking small events, whether they’re an accurate account or not really isn’t the point, and highlights it in order to derail any serious conversation about the overall conflict. Instead of asking why Israelis have increased settlement activity in the West Bank, knowing full well that settlements make real peace virtually impossible. Why since the Oslo Accords has Israel pursued a policy that is well-known by people on all sides to essentially make a two-state solution impossible?”

Israel and the United States cosy relationship remains questionable. The friendship has been productive for both countries, which have gained political, economic and military benefits over the decades. This friendship has solidified Israel as a powerhouse in the Middle East.

“Why does the US support this? Even though at times the US grumble about it or US presidents say that it’s probably not so good that Israel is building so many settlements, American military and economic aid goes forward no matter what. Unconditional support continues.

“And in that case, whether Marwan Barghouti sneaking snacks in during his hunger strike is trivial to such a degree that the fact that its on American newspapers tells you something about the power of Israeli public relations to control the narrative. That’s what we’re talking about. Who gets to tell the narrative? Who gets to tell the basic story? Is the basic story one of Israeli expansion or is it one of crazed Arab terrorism. That’s the fundamental question. In the United States, there’s no doubt that Israel has in many ways won the war on the ground, but more so they’ve won the war for the imagination of the American public.”
Robert Jensen’s article: http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-israels-media-propaganda-dominates-american-mind

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