The West's Pro-Israel stance and it's role in mass media
The West wants to maintain imperialistic hegemony, and mass media plays a huge rule in upholding it.
Why is the West so pro-Israel? Why do they hold Zionist beliefs?
The short answer is because they want to maintain imperialistic hegemony.
In summary, through it's holdover since the Cold War, a strategic hold in the Middle East, economic ties, and evangelical end-times prophecy.
Post-Cold War Holdover: The US and Israel have close ties as a holdover from the Cold War. They viewed Israel as a Cold War asset because they saw them as a tool to contain Soviet influence. The US had been concerned about Soviet influence in the region and that the conflict could have expanded into a Cold War proxy battle if it had escalated further. These relations only grew after 9/11. (This is why Russia is not pro-Palestine, rather they are anti-USA).
Strategic Hold: Israel is also the place that the US has a hold of strategically in the Middle East. In short, it's dependence on oil has long influenced its foreign policy. US officials have also long maintained that America’s relationship with Israel holds strategic value as a stabilizing force in the Middle East, keeping at bay unrest that would threaten access to the regional oil supply on which America remains dependent.
Economic Ties: The US is Israel's top trading partner. The US nevertheless has continued its unconditional aid to Israel, which has totaled $158 billion (not adjusted for inflation) since World War II. Israel is the 10th largest military exporter in the world — and also made the US conversely reliant on Israel. Going back home from a moment, they also have economic ties with Australia.
Spiritual Prophecies: Evangelicals believe that Israel is important to fulfil their end times prophecy. Our former prime minister, Scott Morrison, was notably evangelical and he also recognised West Jerusalem as the Israel capital. This later was dropped.
So how does Israel uphold this? Lobbying and propaganda.
The impact of pro-Israel lobby groups
Lobbying mostly occurs through US congress, especially over the last couple of decades. The Democratic party have been tied with these Israeli lobby groups and any criticism of israel will cost them votes and money.
So with the power of these lobby groups, as well as the West's close ties with them (economically, strategically, and so on) - they get to uphold their imperialist powers and they get to gain from this.
This is why we have media hegemony.
The media's role in shaping a pro-Israel narrative
Communication goes from the top down through very limited channels. This is how the propaganda works through the media. The mass media utilises propaganda to manufacture consent and justify Israel's genocide in occupied Palestine.
Why is this happening? Western media outlets are owned by powerful people with close ties to Israel. These media outlets are also concentrated and owned in few hands. So the framing of the narrative is for their own political and financial gain.
The mass media upholds a powerful hegemony, in other words, the values of the ruling class. The ruling values in society and their ideologies is that:
“Israel has a right to protect themselves”.
“Israel is the victim”.
“Palestinians are seen as the terrorists and aggressors”.
Because we have a very narrow scope of viewpoints due to the monopoly of mass media, we are handed a very one-sided view of this war.
How are they carrying out these beliefs? Propaganda through the media.
Media propaganda
We have seen this happen everywhere for the last four months through mainstream news outlets and social media.
Many examples include:
Disinformation - stories that are simply not true. False stories, images from other conflicts, from other countries, from other times in history. There are even screenshots being shared from video games. Please fact check your media before you repost.
anti-Palestinian bias in language - this includes humanizing subjects as well as active/passive/middle voice.
Celebrity/influencer endorsement. Celebrities took to Instagram to share their pro-Israel beliefs. Some a little too far, such as Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman.
How do I stay actually informed?
Where do I find verified new sources? How do I get a more diverse view on this right now?
Make sure that you find original sources to news and make sure that they're not spreading mis/disinformation.
Take note of who is sharing it. Western journalists are not able to be on the ground in Gaza, so often information comes directly from the IOF.
If the claim is egregious, has it been fact checked?
Listen to a diverse range of perspectives. There are countless Palestinians on social media that are talking about their experiences (especially Motaz before his evacuation and Bisan).
Make sure that your viewing this through a critical lens: Who owns this? Who is making the editorial decision?
Public opinion is changing
The opinion is changing even through the Jewish community.
Australia has just established its first ever anti-Zionist Jewish Organisation. Only a couple of years ago, a quarter of American Jewish people view Israel as an apartheid state.
While the US political system is obviously controlled by money, and it being upheld by the media narrative, the public opinion is shifting. It is not working as effectively as it used to.
It's going to be a long time before we see huge change. But I'm glad to hear that something is working - and critically viewing the mainstream media is helping facilitate that.