Can Biased Media Narratives Lead to Violence Against Jews?

Tensions have intensified between Israel and Lebanon in recent days, leaving people around the world bracing for what will happen next. Israel’s fight against Hezbollah is admirable, but for some, it seems that, instead of supporting Israel’s fight against terrorism, people are instead supporting terrorism itself. Is there a reason that this is the world’s perception and could it be connected to skewed narratives and false propaganda in the media?

Following the remote detonation of Hezbollah walkie-talkies and pagers last week, the world began to wait for a retaliation against Israel. In the place of Hezbollah’s expected revenge, a different narrative made the headlines. 

Israel has been making near constant preemptive strikes on Hezbollah arsenals and has been eliminating countless members of the terrorist organization in the last week. Instead of praise for Israel’s precise targeting of terrorists and their emphasis on warning civilians to flee from the areas that contain Hezbollah operatives, condemnation of Israel has instead dominated the news.

Unfortunately, this type of propaganda has the potential to lead protesters into violence. 

Of the Media and Their Lies 

“Every time the media lies, a neighborhood in Lebanon dies.” 

This is a chant from the recent pro-Palestinian “Flood Manhattan for Lebanon” protest in New York. 

While it would be hard to argue that the media is often biased in favor of Israel in their coverage, it is true that propaganda and media slanting can lead to more negativity and hostility towards Israel and the Jewish people.

Media coverage has a history of lying or, at best, slanting their coverage negatively about Israel. For example, they claim things such as: 

• Israel is committing genocide.
• Israel is occupying a land that is not their own.
• Israel is targeting civilians in Gaza or Lebanon. 

These lies can lead people to believe that Israel and the Jewish people are immoral and detrimental to the existence of peace in the world. Once people are convinced of this slanted ideology, they are then called to action, which many times, has led to violence against Jews. 

False Narratives and Accusations

At this same protest on Tuesday, protesters also began to accuse the Jewish people of occupying Lebanon. 

News flash: this accusation is completely false.

It stems from the fact that in the 1980s Israel held a security buffer in the southern tip of Lebanon. Since Israel is working to return the more than 60,000 evacuated residents of its northern communities to their homes, the idea of recreating a security buffer has been put forward by Israel’s government. This is what led these groups to claim that “Israel has been occupying Lebanon.” 

Not only is this false, but it is a dangerous manipulation that has the potential to lead to further antisemitic ideology and, possibly even violent action. 

The organizers of this event have priorly called for an escalation in action against Israel, but are they actually calling for violence?  

At their recent protest they waved Hezbollah flags and called for a globalized intifada from New York to Palestine and Lebanon. Based on this, does an escalation look like globalizing the intifada?

False Propaganda Can Lead to Violent Actions

The media’s portrayal of Israel reminds one of this quote by Joseph Goebbels:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Many of these people have most likely never been to Israel and, presumably, all they know is what they have seen on the news. When the media’s portrayal of Israel is so negatively slanted, and many times even false, it can lead to activists to attend protests such as the one mentioned. 

Once they have seen that these “like-minded proponents for peace” are advocating for a globalized intifada, they may not fully understand what they are advocating for, but if it is to stop a genocide then it must be a positive thing, right?

Unfortunately, that is not the reality. Instead, this call for action effectively affirms terrorism and advocates for violence against the Jewish people. 

This is the root of why it is so important to positively advocate for Israel and to spread the truth about what is actually happening. One of the fiercest fronts of the war Israel is facing is propaganda. In a world where people boast posters inscribed with “New York for Hezbollah”, make sure that you’re a soldier in this war against terror and advocate for the truth, for Israel, and for the Jewish people.