Israelis are systematically lied to by state run media about the costs of war and results of their government's military campaigns. After the Hamas incursion of 2023, untrue stories of mass rape and beheaded babies were widely disseminated. The mass destruction and genocide in Gaza has also been hidden from view.
A friend in Israel writes that the same holds true in the current war. There are five major TV channels in Israel that broadcast 24/7, but they are state run. Panels of ex Israeli Defense Forces generals, Mossad (Israeli CIA), Shin Bet (internal security) and pro-government professors monopolize the newscasts and glorify Israel's military actions. They also give warnings about incoming Iranian missiles, but are forbidden from telling where strikes have occurred.
During a recent day, our friend had to enter a shelter seven times, four times from 1-6 AM. People sleep with their phones by their ears to hear the warnings to be near a shelter. For the first week of the war no one had to go to work and schools were closed, but then work was opened but not schools. Parents with small children then have a quandary.
Major media outlets in the U.S. also agree to allow the Israeli military to censor their reporting in order to maintain access. In general, this applies most strictly to any video of live action. Some arrests have even been made for violating this policy (CNN 3/6). And we know that no international journalists have ever been allowed into Gaza.
There have been some small antiwar protests, but these are also not publicized except on social media. A small wildcat demo by 20 young people was broken by the police who declared it to be an illegal demo (you need a license for a demo with more than 10 people). They arrested two and released them a few hours later.
This media control is only an exaggeration of what takes place around the world, adding ignorance to the nationalism, racism, and pro-capitalist propaganda doled out to all workers to make them support the bosses' wars. The only antidote is to build a mass international movement uniting students, workers and soldiers to build a world they run - a communist world.
