Is the media about to ignite World War III? - opinion

Last year at this time, with Ramadan approaching, the Israel Police did everything possible to keep the peace in Jerusalem.

They knew it was an especially sensitive time because Ramadan, Passover, and Easter coincided and were all attracting worshipers to the Holy City. Every day, the police released figures to the international media about the worshipers who prayed in the city without incident.

But “No violence in Jerusalem” is no headline.

The international media only paid attention to what was happening in Jerusalem on April 5, when hundreds of armed rioters barricaded themselves in the Aqsa Mosque compound at night, intending to harm worshipers the following day.

The police entered the mosque to disarm the rioters and prevent the worshipers from being harmed. But when they themselves were attacked by the rioters, who had stockpiled weapons in the mosque, the police had to defend themselves.

Out came the phone cameras. The videos went viral, and incorrect reports were headlined “Israeli police storm mosque, attack worshipers during holy month.”

Those videos and dangerously incorrect headlines were used as excuses to fire rockets from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria; the drive-by shootings of Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee in the Jordan Valley on their way to a Tiberias vacation; and the murder of an Italian tourist in Tel Aviv who was killed for the crime of “looking Jewish.”

Too many Israeli families ended up spending Passover in bomb shelters after the world media appeared to justify the murders by noting where the Dee family of Efrat lived and died.

The media watchdog HonestReporting called out The Guardian for passively saying the victims had been “killed” as opposed to “murdered” and for stating the location of the deaths in order to justify them rather than pointing out that the perpetrator was a terrorist. An Associated Press headline did not identify the victims or the murderer: “Two killed in West Bank after Israel strikes Lebanon, Gaza.”

Al Jazeera’s headline was “Two Israeli settlers killed in occupied West Bank shooting.” The subhead stated that “a deadly gun attack was carried out on a vehicle near the illegal Hamra settlement,” dehumanizing the passengers  as if the terrorist’s goal was to damage the car.

By making excuses for why Jews are being murdered, the international media legitimized terror and became complicit, fanning the flames of more violence.

“World media: show me your true colors,” Rabbi Leo Dee implored after the murder of his wife and daughters. “Do you really believe in moral equivalence? Will you continue to support evil by giving it a voice? Am I and my family really a threat to world peace? We who teach kindness and love? We who value life over anything else? Is this anonymous killer really justified? Is he progressing moral values and a future for himself? Come on! Wake up! Listen to your souls. Do you really believe it? Or does it just sell advertising space for material goods none of us really need?”

Ramadan approaches again

Now Ramadan is approaching again as Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Some media outlets have used Hamas’s name for the war, “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which aims to justify the Oct. 7 massacre. Days after the atrocities, the Associated Press echoed Hamas’s talking points, focusing on visits of Jews during Sukkot to the Temple Mount (“al-Aqsa” refers to the compound of Islamic buildings there) among other justifications, implicitly blaming Israel for Hamas’s invasion and attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Israel is wisely seeking a ceasefire that will coincide with Ramadan, knowing the unfortunate history of attacks on Israel during the Muslim holy month.

The dangerous lies that resurface every year, claiming that Jews are planning to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a Third Temple, are bound to resurface in incitement from Palestinian leaders and religious figures.

THIS ANTISEMITIC libel was originally manufactured and disseminated in 1921 by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, and has continued to be spread over the past century. It has been used as an excuse for violence too many times, according to a historical overview published by HonestReporting.

In August 1929, Palestinian Muslims, incited by rumors of an imminent Jewish plot to destroy al-Aqsa, rampaged throughout the land. In total, 133 Jews were killed over six days, including 67 members of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron.

In 1990, the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” libel inspired 3,000 Muslims to gather on the Temple Mount after a rumor was spread that a Jewish organization was planning to march on the site. This devolved into the October riots, which led to the deaths of 17 Muslims and many wounded on both sides.

Again, in 1996, following the opening of an exit for the Western Wall Tunnels in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of purposely endangering the Aqsa Mosque. This led to three days of rioting, during which 17 IDF soldiers and about 100 Palestinians were killed.

The September 2000 visit to the Mount by Ariel Sharon, just a few months before he was elected to be prime minister, was used as an excuse to launch the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Aware of this history, Israeli and Palestinian Authority security officials have been meeting to prepare and cooperate on how to prevent violence. National Security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi has been working on plans to minimize tensions with Hussein Al Sheikh, the PA’s civil affairs head. 

But there are figures on both sides who have other interests. And Iran, the patron of Hamas and Hezbollah, could try even harder to inflame a multi-front regional war.

The police will once again do their best to avoid conflict and maintain calm.

But when false accusations are inevitably made against Israel during Ramadan this year, how will the international media handle it?

Will they repeat the mistakes that they made last year? Will they again promote the libel, fan flames, and increase tension that in the current climate could possibly spark WW III?

Stay tuned. Ramadan begins on March 10. 

The writer is the executive director and executive editor of HonestReporting. He served as chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post for 24 years.