Truly extraordinary times are happening right now.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, was recently imprisoned by the US for doing her job, documenting Israeli military actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
The case against Israel is weaker than ever, though there have been more than 58 000 Palestinian deaths to date in Gaza. Therefore, we must ban everything and silence it for Israel’s sake.
Since October 2023, the pro-Israeli movement has relied on silence and censorship.
They were silenced, censored, and punished for all those who insisted that the history of Palestine and Israel did not begin on October 7, 2023 and for pointing out the longer history of colonialism, settler colonialism, or the siege of Gaza since 2007.
The days before the now-discredited reports of “beheaded babies” were true.
Some people received death threats and online attacks in the US and Europe, while others received reprimands from employers and line managers for criticizing Israeli policies or publicly expressing pro-Palestinian opinions.
Teachers were suspended and student organizations were suspended in schools in Maryland, Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona because of pro-Palestine activism. The police were contacted by university professors in the US and the UK after they “liked” or shared pro-Palestinian social media posts.
Maura Finkelstein became the first tenured academic to be fired for pro-Zionist speech in May 2024. After posting a poem by a Palestinian poet online, she was fired from Muhlenberg College.
There have been numerous instances of these incidents all over the world between October 2023 and now. Four City University of New York adjunct professors were fired just a few days ago for their activism supporting Palestine.
Then they arrived for the press.
Israel has forbid entry to Gaza’s foreign press, but Palestinian journalists there have been treated as legitimate military targets. 13 journalists have been killed on average each month, more than “all of the World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Yugoslavian wars, and the American war in Afghanistan” combined. The media workers’ conflict is the deadliest ever to be recorded.
In other instances, journalists have been routinely silenced for supporting the Palestinian cause or criticizing the Israeli government, especially those of Middle Eastern or North African descent.
This includes Australian radio host Antoinette Lattouf, who was fired in December 2023 after publishing a Human Rights Watch report alleging that “Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.” In October 2023, Honest Reporting Canada pressed journalists Yara Jamal (CTV) and Zahraa al-Akhrass (Global News, during maternity leave) to quit.
Hill News fired Katie Halper and Briahna Joy Gray for their remarks about Israel. There should be no denying that the Hill has fired me, especially when it criticizes the state of Israel, on X.
Beyond dismissals, Western media executives have altered the narrative by repeatedly refuting Israeli propaganda, mischaracterizing Palestinian activism as anti-Semitic or pro-Hamas, using Israeli victims as victims far more frequently than Palestinians, and refuting Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza.
Particularly its pro-Israel bias has been criticized repeatedly by the BBC. Its reporting has consistently been accused of downplaying Palestinian suffering and reframing Israeli government talking points, from headlines to the excessive airtime given to Israeli officials. The broadcaster’s editorial stance on Gaza has been challenged by resignations, open letters, and public protests.
Employees at Upday, Axel Springer’s largest news aggregator in Europe, were instructed to “color the company’s coverage of the Gaza war with pro-Israel sentiment.” According to internal documents obtained by The Intercept, staff were instructed not to “push anything involving Palestinian casualty tolls” unless “information about Israel” was “higher up in the story.”
More is needed.
After October 7, Harvard students were exposed to terrifying doxxing campaigns that labeled them as anti-Semitic or terrorist sympathisers, and their personal information was made public.
The silencing spread to colleges across the US and Europe as Israel’s scholasticide persisted in Gaza. Students in Palestine’s solidarity camps vowed that Israeli universities and the military-industrial complex cut ties with their institutions. Some of them were denied graduation, while others faced harsh police punishment, suspensions, and other harsh penalties. In an effort to reduce student Palestine solidarity, universities quickly imposed new restrictions on gatherings and protests.
Legislators like New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani are now subject to threats of arrest, denaturalization, and deportation under the Trump administration. Trump falsely called him “illegal,” labeled him a “communist,” and threatened to have him detained if he obstructed “operations” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in response to GOP Representative Andy Ogles’ request for denaturalization and deportation, citing alleged falsehoods in Mamdani’s naturalization without any evidence. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the White House, confirmed that related requests had been received by the Justice Department.
At sporting and performing arts events, Palestinian flags have also been prohibited. For wearing a keffiyeh, individuals have been denied entry to public spaces and businesses.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, was warned that if the case against former defense minister Yoav Gallant and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was dropped, he and the ICC would be “destroyed.” The US government issued a four-county court order.
Susan Sarandon, the winner of the Academy Award, was fired by her talent company, UTA, for her remarks at a solidarity rally in Palestine.
For her social media posts describing Israeli actions as genocide and ethnic cleansing, Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream VII’s cast. According to Spyglass Media Group, there is “zero tolerance for antisemitism,” which includes “false allusions to genocide, ethnic cleansing, and Holocaust distortion.”
Recently, Irish musicians Kneecap and Bob Vylan used their platforms at music festivals to show their support for Palestine. The organization is currently facing terrorism charges. With the cancellation of Vylan’s European appearances and the revoked US visa, a potential tour of the country is in doubt.
After both artists performed at the Glastonbury Festival in June, the pro-Israel camp also launched a protest there. They pressed organizers to distance themselves from the performers and complained to the BBC about the live broadcasting of the performances. Even the most significant cultural institutions were exposed by the backlash, which made it clear that even the most prominent ones were susceptible to censorship.
Omer Bartov, a well-known Israeli-American historian and genocide scholar, has become a focal point of a strong backlash, adding to this troubling trend. In a column for The New York Times titled “I’m a Genocide Scholar.” According to Bartov, who cited the systematic destruction of the Israeli-led infrastructure, forced population shifts, and rhetoric by Israeli leaders, “I Know It When I See It,” claiming that it complies with both the UN and the applicable legal definitions of genocide.
Since then, pro-Israeli factions have criticized him and demanded that he be “cancelled,” a campaign he refutes by highlighting that many genocide studies experts concur with his conclusions. Bartov’s current reputational assault demonstrates how even the world’s leading genocide experts are now being targeted for referring to Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
It might already seem like a long-range suppression campaign. But take into account: If Israel relies so heavily on censorship, what does it say about its position?
However, it continues to be insufficient. Every student, academician, activist, musician, artist, or lawmaker who criticizes Israel’s policies must now be labeled a “terror supporter.” Anti-Semitism must be labeled into every civil society organization, human rights organization, and international organization that records Israeli abuses.
Then can we only make up our minds that we didn’t see anything. Then we can only say that we have not heard anything. Only then can we explain why we didn’t act when the Gaza genocide was still ongoing.
Source: Aljazeera
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