US media sought to use lens of history in reporting Palestinian Israeli conflict
By Marivir Montebon
New York – Palestinian and Jewish leaders in the media, communities, and academe sought from local ethnic media practitioners in the US to use the lens of history and right to life and autonomy in reporting the strife between Palestine and Israel. They warned that without these contexts, media reportage could exacerbate division and hate-related tension here.
EMS media briefing on the Israeli Palestinian conflict on Oct. 13, 2023
“What’s happening now is not happening in a vacuum. The death of civilians on both sides is abhorrent. However, I don’t see it being put into context – why is it happening today and why it keeps repeating itself,” said Jamal Dajani, a Palestinian-American journalist who co-founded the Arab Talk Radio and former member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
Dajani told the media: “You have to distinguish this is not a religious conflict or an ethnic conflict as it has been described by media. This is a territorial conflict. It’s a colonial conflict. When you are driven out of your home in 1948 and live in a refugee camp, Israelis are seen as invaders. This has nothing to do with religion. There are extremists who take advantage and say this is about religion. It is not. Historically, Jews, Muslims, and Christians co-existed in the Holy Land for many years.”
Jamal Dajani, co-founder of Arab Talk Radio
Dajani, a Peabody award-winning journalist, was among the speakers of the nationwide media conference sponsored by Ethnic Media Services (EMS) on October 13, 2023. Also in the panel were Fatin Jarara, a Palestinian community organizer working with Al-Awda New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Estee Chandler, organizer of Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles chapter; and Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at California State University in San Bernardino.
Dajani noted that “for the past 75 years, Palestinians have not seen any advancement in negotiations, they have not realized their aspirations, and they are living under apartheid. What do you do? They are resisting. Palestinians have a lot of Jewish support for peace and independence like its own B’Tselem.”
Fatin Jarara, who was speaking from New York, pointed out the conflation of the Israeli state with Judaism inaccurately describes the territorial conflict between Israel and Palestine as a religious dispute. “As a Palestinian…I am against the Israeli Zionist state that is racist. I am not saying anything against Jewish people.”
She also noted a “problematic framing” of the EMS media forum itself as Israel versus Hamas conflict. “This implies that the issue between Israel and a militant group. It’s more than just that. This is an issue of occupation imposed on indigenous people. In one week of bombardment on Gaza, more have been killed than in a year of bombardment on Afghanistan.”
“As Palestinians, we see all lives as worthy of living a dignified life. We in the US want to see my people live a dignified life too, and to see my people liberated,” Jarara explained.
Fatin Jarara
Jarara said that as a Palestinian growing up in the US, she has seen how supporters for Palestine are being met with hostility. She cited a most recent incident of a New York City councilwoman who attended a Palestine rally at Brooklyn College with a concealed gun.
“She thought that she could intimidate the youth scot-free. But she was arrested,” revealed Jarara during the forum.
As of presstime, Republican councilwoman Inna Vernikov representing southern Brooklyn, was charged with possession of firearm, and turned herself in on Friday. She was seen at the student rally with a firearm tucked around her waist. Although she had a license to carry a firearm, New York law prohibits the carrying of firearms inside schools and universities.
Panelist Estee Chandler mentioned cases of intimidation at UCLA where members of Students for Justice in Palestine were being doxxed on social media. “Their ability to organize and secure spaces to do teach-ins has been suppressed.”
The escalating violence in Israel and Gaza has heightened tensions inside schools and universities in New York, Boston, and California as students and administrators weigh in and voice out their sentiments, whether online or in person.
Chandler cited the killing of a six-year-old young boy in Plainsfield, Chicago and the wounding of his mother by their landlord who attacked them with a knife in what police identified as a hate crime.
Chandler said that the rising tensions in the US was a result of how media has reported the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Gaza has been under nearly 16 years of Israeli military blockade and the war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago with occupation and systemic apartheid. Although much of the media is reporting that Israel has now left Gaza, that’s not true. They just moved their defenses to the perimeter. There is much misinformation that drives this. Students and activists are made unsafe. I’m someone who is threatened myself,” she said at the EMS media forum.
Chandler stressed that the media needed to give voice to facts and to hear Palestinians tell their stories, in the wake of threats and suppression. She emphasized for media to contextualize the Palestinian history into their reports that would include Israel’s militarization and apartheid.
Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and criminal justice Professor Emeritus at CSU San Bernardino, said that the U.S. has seen an increase in hate crimes over recent years.
Citing the FBI, Levin said the 2022 statistics recorded 11, 643 hate crimes where over 56% were racially or ethnically motivated and 17% religiously motivated.
“We have to reach out to all the communities. I have been contacting my Arab Muslim friends in the interfaith community and making sure that they know that they are cared for as well as the Jewish community.”
The speakers noted that the escalation of hate crimes muddle the quest for peace and the autonomy of Palestine. #
