“B’Ivrit: A Hebrew Language Media Roundup” is a monthly look at the news through the eyes of Israeli media consumers.
1. Discovering the Gaza Famine
Like the international press, Israeli media have no access to the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces, which control the region, prohibit reporters from entering. The few and rare excursions made by representatives of the Israeli media into Gaza are organized by the IDF and are engineered to allow only encounters with preselected Israeli soldiers and commanders in predetermined areas.
This could explain, in part, why Israelis have no idea of what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza.
But this explanation doesn’t tell the full story. There is no shortage of news coming out of Gaza. Palestinian reporters, local Gazans who report for international news outlets and endless social media posts have been telling the story for almost two years. The Israeli media deliberately chose to tune out. Stories of suffering Gazans have no audience in Israel, nor do details of civilians killed by Israel. Israel’s media chose to look inward, to focus on the struggles of its own people. Shedding light on the hardship of one’s enemy was seen as a luxury that a nation at war cannot afford.
Recent weeks have changed this calculation.
The mounting reports of starvation and hunger caused by the lack of food and humanitarian aid shocked international public opinion and eventually made it to the Israeli press.
Haaretz, Israel’s left-leaning daily, was the only publication to devote front- page stories to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The paper’s Friday edition on July 25 depicted a Palestinian mother embracing her starved toddler. Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s most popular centrist publication, ignored the issue of starvation in Gaza and instead reported on how Israel is reconsidering its aid policy “following worldwide criticism” of the situation in Gaza. The right-leaning Israel Hayom took a similar path, reporting on the change in Israel’s policy, which now permits more food to enter Gaza alongside airdrops of assistance, and admonished the government, in its top headline, for “a complete failure of Israeli Hasbarah [pro-government propaganda],” while referring to reports of famine in Gaza as “the fake Hamas ‘starvation’ campaign.’”
Suddenly, there is a push to report on Gaza, but most reporters and editors still view it as siding with the enemy.
Israel’s TV news channels focused on international criticism of Israel because of the dire situation in Gaza, while still avoiding directly touching the issue. “This is how the world sees Gaza” was the title of a segment on KAN, Israel’s public broadcasting network. The piece provided Israeli viewers with a rare glance into the suffering of Gazans, though it did so in an awkward way, telling the story through the prism of foreign press coverage of the crisis.
Israelis this month learned more about the situation in Gaza than they’ve seen in the past. The media circumvented the touchy issue of covering the suffering caused by Israeli forces to residents in a land ruled by Israel’s enemies—by talking about the impact of these actions on Israel’s standing in the world.
An analysis of news reports on Israeli TV networks in June and July, published by Walla last week, found that on Channel 12, Israel’s most popular and influential TV news outlet, there were 66 mentions of the Gaza famine, but almost all of them focused on the international and political implications of the situation, not on the hunger itself. Channel 13 and KAN each aired 59 reports relating to the hunger in Gaza, but none of them, according to this analysis, provided a real examination of the situation Gazans are facing. The result, Walla reports, is that “Israelis are hardly exposed to the conditions in Gaza, while the international audience sees dozens of reports, videos, and hears firsthand evidence.” This, the analysis concludes, explains why Israelis fail to understand why the world is responding in such a harsh way to the crisis in Gaza.
2. A First Since October 7: Press Comes Under Fire
The lack of proper reporting on the situation in Gaza has raised, for the first time, some pushback.
Activists standing outside the studios of Israel’s three main news channels tried to confront reporters and editors as they entered with questions about the lack of Gaza coverage.
They were largely ignored, but a leaked text exchange on Channel 12’s newsroom group chat provided some interesting insight. Referring to the protest outside their studio, one editor wrote: “With all due understanding to our journalistic duties, it’s hard to relate to this protest when you hear the stories of [Israeli] survivors of Hamas captivity.” A couple of journalists expressed their disagreement with this statement, arguing that ignoring the situation in Gaza amounts to serving as the government’s mouthpiece. “I can live with that,” responded an editor, winning agreement from the channel’s top political analyst, who wrote, “Exactly!”
The chat, quickly stopped by the director of Channel 12 news, depicts the type of discussion going on in many Israeli newsrooms. Suddenly, there is a push to report on Gaza, but most reporters and editors still view it as siding with the enemy.
Over the weekend, three anti-war activists barged onto the set of Israel’s “Big Brother” reality show on Channel 13, and for several seconds they were seen calling for an end to the Gaza war. “Israel is starving Gaza,” they shouted. “We must end the war, it is killing all of us.” Directors of the show quickly turned off the studio cameras, as the anchors of the popular reality show muttered: “Let’s stop this, everything’s okay.”
3. Hunger Games
The debate in Israel over coverage of Gaza hunger died quickly when Hamas released on August 2 horrific videos of two Israeli hostages, Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David. The two young hostages look emaciated, broken in body and in spirit. Braslavski, crying, described the almost complete starvation he is suffering in the hands of his Hamas captors, while David showed how he was forced to dig his own grave in the dark tunnel he’s been held in for nearly two years.
“Hell in Gaza,” read the headline in Maariv above photos taken from the Hamas-released videos of the two hostages. Yediot showed Evyatar David, a mere skeleton, with a single-word headline: “Help.”
Israel Hayom chose a photo of David writing on the wall of his tunnel, with the headline: “Endless cruelty.”
Publication of the horrific images from the Gaza tunnels immediately shifted the discourse in Israel and demanded a stark decision: to cover the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza or that of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. For the Israeli media, the choice was clear: At a time of war and facing the heartbreaking images of fellow Israelis starving to death, there’s no place for dealing with the starvation of those on the other side.
4. Still No Press Access to Gaza
Discussions of hunger and suffering in Gaza gave urgency to the demand to allow reporters into Gaza. A recent petition signed by nearly 1,000 journalists from around the world urged Israel to open the gates of Gaza for coverage.
It makes more sense than ever: Hamas has argued that Israel is purposely starving Palestinians in Gaza and is recklessly killing civilians. Israel claims that this is all Hamas propaganda. Why not allow international media in and have them settle the issue with on-the-ground reporting and fact-checking?
Israel has long rejected this request, and a court case appealing the decision has been dragging on for more than a year. The Israeli government’s argument is that Gaza is a war zone and allowing journalists in would endanger their lives and the lives of Israeli soldiers. Media organizations responded that just as international aid workers are allowed in and operate in coordination with the Israeli forces, reporters should be able to do the same.
5. Bibi Talks
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been avoiding the Israeli press since October 7. Despite Israel’s being in the midst of its longest war, Netanyahu has held only a handful of press conferences, has given no interviews to the Israeli press (except for the government-friendly Channel 14) and has chosen instead to provide the public with pre-recorded video messages.
All this time, Netanyahu has been more than willing to speak to the American press, especially Fox News, where he has appeared several times in recent weeks.
On Sunday, following a dramatic decision by the Israeli cabinet to expand the war and to occupy Gaza City, Bibi agreed to speak to the press. He started off with an English press conference for the international media, and later that day, during the prime-time TV news shows, he gathered the Israeli media.
All channels carried most of the press conference live, later providing studio commentary on Netanyahu’s remarks. There was no big news: Bibi, well prepared, tried to convey the message that extending fighting in Gaza would actually advance the end of the war as he brushed off claims that entering Gaza City and the adjacent towns would put the hostages’ lives at risk.
Watching the event made clear why Netanyahu has avoided the Israeli press for so long. He was faced with tough questions, asked to address extreme comments made by his cabinet members, and called out by reporters when he tried to smudge the facts.
Netanyahu repeatedly accused reporters of being biased and disputed the information presented in their questions.
It would be safe to guess he won’t be doing another press conference any time soon.