Description

Photos: Published by Haaretz
The CNN report from Gaza as it was presented on Israel's Channel 13. 'That's what real survival looks like.' Credit: Screenshot from the CNN report on Gaza.

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon. Credit: Ilan Assayag

Raviv Drucker, on channel 13, on Monday. "These images deserve our attention." Credit: Screenshot from channel 13
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A CNN report from Gaza played on Israel's Channel 13 showed starving women being crushed by desperate masses. But in Israel, people are still shocked by "ethnic cleansing" accusations

by Yasmin Levy for Haaretz
Dec 4, 2024 12:38 pm IST

Maybe this really is a "time of miracles" [i.e., the approaching Hanukkah holiday] if the right-wing former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is the one warning the public that the political leadership is engaged in "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza. Ya'alon caused a national uproar, but at least he created increased awareness of the issue. On Monday, they finally bothered to air appalling images from the Strip, including women being crushed among the hungry masses storming the line for bread distribution.

These images weren't aired on all the channels, that's already too much to ask from a country in denial. Raviv Drucker's program, "War Zone" (channel 13), aired the CNN report of the crushing that horrified the world. "The images demand our attention," he told the shocked panel members.

Other TV channels continued to ignore the situation in Gaza as well as the video which, in the course of a few minutes, made it clear that the "Generals' Plan" – the starvation plan advocated by Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland and other generals – has been implemented, after all. Apparently, for Israeli television, it is enough to show Gazans with reporter Ohad Hemo cursing the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Viewing helpless women crying out from hunger – with some of them crushed to death in their desperate attempt to get out with a bit of flour – one can't be surprised that the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

If only they had aired the pictures, which only Israel is trying to hide, on the other channels, and devoted a respectable amount of time to them, perhaps the presenters and pundits in the studios would show more compassion for those on the other side of the fence, and be capable of seeing the connection between the hunger in Gaza and the hunger suffered by Israeli hostages, as stated by Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon. Alon is greatly concerned, and warns about the danger to the lives of the hostages.

If only the current events broadcasts weren't living in a delusional bubble in which "Israel is fighting for its existence," maybe Yaron Avraham of Channel 12 News wouldn't have interviewed Ya'alon this week in a tone of self-righteous indignation, as though the former chief of staff had betrayed the country, only because he described, without euphemisms, what fascist ministers in the government are saying.

"Often, when we saw these appalling scenes in the past, we hoped that it was staged. It looks as though it wasn't staged. It's terrible distress," stated Drucker. He turned to Alon Ben David, the only military commentator who voices sharp criticism against a war that's dragging on, and doesn't cover up what's happening.

Ben David said that hundreds of aid trucks are standing at the Kerem Shalom crossing, "and some merchandise is rotting and there's nobody to distribute it. Some aid organizations don't want to deal with that. We have a problem, and the worse the winter becomes and the deeper the mud, the harder it will be." That was a rare moment when the viewers learned how genuine survival looks, and not only as a promo for a reality show, which flickered on the side of the screen.

It's true that Hamas is taking control of the aid trucks and firing at the unfortunate Gazans who are trying to grab the food, but it's the government's responsibility to ensure that the food reaches the right hands. We can't send trucks that get stuck along the way and throw up our hands in the air as though it's the other side's logistical problem.

Had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taken time off from his plots to destroy Israel and worked on a genuine alternative to Hamas rule, the famine wouldn't have grown to such dimensions. Only shortly beforehand, on the same channel, a Gaza resident named Sammy Obeid told journalist Arik Weiss that, "There's no food in Gaza and I haven't eaten meat for 72 days."

Drucker discussed Israelis' defensive stance, exemplified by the claim that showing horrific images from Gaza "harms our image." He said, "First, it's harmful to see people in this terrible situation. They aren't Hamas." Those responsible for the harm to our image are first and foremost the political leaders, who are maintaining and exacerbating the distress. It's no wonder that Amnon Levy, who was a guest on the panel, tossed out: "Raviv, which other program will air these images?"

Really, which program? Drucker asked him to let it be, but Levy insisted on the need to talk about it. He's right. Certainly, when these are the images that are seen all over the world. In Israel, we cry "antisemitism' over any criticism of the country's conduct, but overseas they aren't impressed by our collective victimhood.

News channels are subservient to the government when they fail to report the distress it has created. On the day when broadcasting images of suffering from Gaza isn't a sensational TV event but a journalistic standard, perhaps contempt for human life, which includes the Israeli hostages, will begin to wane.