At the end of the thirteenth month of the Zionist genocide war on Gaza, which has also been extended to Lebanon for almost a month now, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine has called on its members and supporters to increase efforts and collaboration to halt the Zionist aggression, condemn western political complicity, and continue to raise awareness about the truth of the Palestinian cause and the rights of its people.

Media in all its forms plays a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and directing action toward specific positions on key issues. Therefore, GCRP has focused its call on directing efforts in the coming period toward media institutions in Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world. The goal is to confront the massive distortion of information and news, expose the bias and racism against the Palestinian cause, and uncover the distortion of the legitimate struggle of Palestinians to liberate their land and restore their rights.

It became evident since October 7, 2023, that the overall direction of Western media almost completely aligns with the Zionist narrative. This bias continues even over a year ofgenocide against Gaza, which has turned this small, densely populated area into a ghost town, with explosive quantities exceeding those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

Many major media outlets in Europe, the U.S., and some Arab countries have shown clear media complicity with the Zionist narrative since the onset of the ongoing genocide committed by the occupying entity in Gaza on October 7, 2023. The events were presented from the point of view of the political agendas served by these channels, which adopt the occupation narrative.

This media bias has contributed to fueling hatred and racism against Palestinians and has distorted the image of their legitimate struggle for freedom and dignity.

Despite international reports and humanitarian organizations documenting numerous violations and crimes against humanity, biased media often ignores these facts, refusing to present the story as it is. Instead, they aim to turn victims into perpetrators, justifying crimes under false pretenses such as “the right to self-defense.” This has resulted in distorting the reality of the genocide happening in Gaza and Lebanon, presenting it as just a conflict or a response to an attack, completely disregarding the historical context and the ongoing genocide.

In this context, and in light of the immense challenges faced by the Palestinian and Lebanese people in their quest to defend their land, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine has called for serious action by international activists to correct the media narrative and confront the distorted image of the Palestinian cause in both Western and some Arab– language media.

GCRP emphasized the importance of raising media awareness in the Western world and pressuring media outlets to present a neutral and objective narrative, one that takes into account the historical context of the Palestinian conflict and highlights the reality of the ongoing Zionist aggression. It also called for the condemnation of Western complicity with the occupation, emphasizing the need to respect human rights and adhere to international laws prohibiting this aggression.

One of the points raised in the call indicated that most media outlets have failed to provide the full historical context of the ongoing conflict, leading the Western audience to adhere to the Zionist narrative about the events. Most media coverage focused on depicting Palestinian attacks on “Israeli”settlements on October 7, 2023, without addressing the roots of the conflict or highlighting the Palestinian right to resist occupation.

The campaign also pointed out various forms of bias against the Palestinian narrative, noting that a large number of spokespersons for the Zionist entity have been hosted, while the opportunities for representing the Palestinian people in Western media have been drastically reduced.

It is worth mentioning that this racist media bias has prompted research in several prominent universities and research centers to analyze the media discourse of European and American newspapers and TV channels, as well as some Arabic-language channels.

These studies have reached several findings, some of which are as follows:

1. media outlets failed to provide an adequate historical context to help the public understand the root causes of the ongoing conflict. It was as if the entire issue began on October 7 with Hamas’s attack on settlements surrounding Gaza. This deliberate omission of historical context deepened the already distorted understanding of events within much of the Western audience, thus serving the Zionist narrative.
2. Media outlets continued their biased behavior against the Palestinian narrative, rarely allowing Palestinian spokespeople to appear, and when they did, the primary question directed at them was, “Do you condemn what Hamas did?” with little effort to objectively understand the Palestinian position.
3. In contrast, there was a constant stream of Zionist spokespersons who demonized the Palestinian people, often stripping them of their humanity, and called for the use of all possible force against them, including weapons of mass destruction.
4. This led to the reinforcement of stereotypical narratives that define victims and perpetrators. Settlers are portrayed as victims no matter the brutality of their actions or the crimes of the army they represent, while Palestinians are depicted as perpetrators, with no room for alternative interpretations.
5. In justifying the Zionist aggression against Gaza under the pretext of self-defense, many Western officials and journalists ignored international law and human rights charters, overlooking the insults directed by Zionist officials at the United Nations and the military aggression against its offices. Some UN bodies were even labeled as terrorist organizations.
6. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, as defined by “Israeli media”, children, hospitals, humanitarian organizations, and places of worship were considered legitimate targets for killing and destruction, disregarding all ethical and legal standards of armed conflict, as long as it served to legitimize the criminal behavior of the Zionist entity. This is exemplified by the recent statement by the German Foreign Minister justifying the targeting of civilian gatherings in the name of eliminating resistance.

Through this call, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine seeks to intensify efforts to raise global awareness of the importance of confronting this ongoing media bias. It calls on individuals and communities to play their part in uncovering the truth through various media platforms, including direct communication with journalists and influencers, and continues to press global media institutions to adhere to objectivity and credibility in covering the events of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.

The challenge before us now is to raise the voice of human justice against the biased media that misleads the world from the truth, and to strive for fair media coverage that highlights the people’s right to defend their land and dignity.