Israeli media must stop portraying criticism as antisemitism - opinion

I find it difficult to accept that many journalists in the mainstream media within Israel cannot distinguish between criticism of the government and criticism of the state. 

Too many serious journalists describe the attitudes of countries or their citizens towards Israel by accepting face value the manipulative rhetoric spewed by the Israeli government and its spokespeople. 

There are Israeli journalists who are extremely critical of the government in their coverage of the Israeli arena but treat similar foreign criticism as anti-Israeli, thus distorting the public’s perception of Israel’s status in the world. In doing so, they also damage their role of presenting reality and truth to the public.

Journalists are not supposed to be agents of advocacy. To the argument that this is how the media behaves in wartime, I will reply that this is how they perpetuate the war, since it is very convenient for an unpopular government to receive protection from mobilized media.

For example, let us examine the August 5 statement by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of military defense in the West Bank “No one in the world will allow us to starve and thirst two million civilians, even though it may be just and moral until we return our abductees.” 

The world that prevents Smotrich from “starving two million civilians” is pro-Israel and expects Israel to act as a liberal democracy and not as a terrorist organization or in the same way as countries like Russia or Iran. The world that loudly criticizes the policies of Israel’s far-Right government is pro-Israel – just as most citizens of Israel who have lost faith in their government and its intentions are still lovers of Israel. 

When Biden presses Israel to advance a deal to release hostages and end the war, he is doing so as someone who defines himself as a Zionist. When the United Kingdom lifts its objection to the issuance of an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, it is not its support for Israel that is undermined, but its willingness to accept the policies of Netanyahu and his government.

Israeli media must stop allying with the right

When countries issue arrest warrants against extremist settlers, it is not a step that harms their support for Israel or their relations with it, but rather a move designed to stop violent incidents against aid convoys and Palestinian civilians in which the Israeli enforcement system, operated under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has failed to respond. 

Imposing restrictions on the export of goods produced in settlements is not anti-Israel, certainly not antisemitic. On the contrary, it seeks to create the all-important distinction between the legitimate Israel within the “Green Line” [the borders of Israel after winning the 1948 War of Independence] and settlements which [many believe] violate international law. Decisions made by foreign governments to recognize a Palestinian state are also not anti-Israel, even if they contradict the policies of the Netanyahu government.

Words create reality, which is why the separation between views and news in media ethics is so important and the determination of what is for or against Israel is just an opinion, not a fact. 

Netanyahu and his extremist ministers are interested in painting justified criticism of their policies and actions in anti-Israeli colors but this is not the reality. Most of the Western governments that criticize Netanyahu or his government are supporters of Israel and its citizens. 

Netanyahu and his partners seek to portray any criticism of them and any policy that seeks to prevent them from realizing their war as anti-Israel or antisemitic doctrine. The Israeli media must stop cooperating with this right-wing narrative and instead must describe only facts. 

There are indeed certain elements in the world that are against Israel, but the world as a majority is not against us. Europe is not against us, the governments of the liberal Left are not against us. They are against our extremists; they are against a bad and dangerous government that has brought us to the greatest disaster in our history. 

The writer is J Street Israel’s executive director. He has served as an Israeli diplomat in Washington and Boston, and as a political adviser to the president of Israel.