By Steven Gardner
Palestine is experiencing a genocide in real time. Israel has been escalating their violent occupation of the region, Gaza and the West Bank, for decades now. The violence on October 7th, 2023, committed by Hamas and Israel, the latter of which engaging in what’s known as the Hannibal Directive, was Israel’s justification to entirely devastate Gaza and increase their aggression within the illegally occupied West Bank. It’s important to note that 2023 was the deadliest year on record, at the time, for Palestinian children, meaning that Israel had already been targeting civilians.
The last month or so has seen some of the worst atrocities to have come out of Gaza. Multiple journalists have been killed doing nothing more than their jobs. The videos emerging from the area show outright murder and war crimes by the IDF, through drone strikes and direct fire. Food trucks have been raided and destroyed or looted by Israeli civilians. This has had a direct impact on how the actions by the IDF are being documented. If it weren’t for those videos, we wouldn’t have a clue about what happens in Gaza or the West Bank. Israel has made one of their goals to make sure no journalists from outside of the region are able to get in while they either kill or discredit those journalists who survive the steady barrage of bombing runs in Gaza. The alternative is the narrative given to mainstream outlets, either “left” or right-leaning, by Israel themselves, which is deeply problematic.
Mainstream outlets, such as MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, are only using what information they can get out of Israel, which isn’t going to highlight their violent acts against a civilian population. Reporters on the ground are able to get some of their stories out, while others struggle with Internet connections and a lack of basic services, and the stories that do get out aren’t circulated by any big news publications or are criticized into obscurity. The New York Times, for example, ran a piece about a child who was malnourished in Palestine due to the ongoing siege by Israel, and was forced to issue a correction about the story as it didn’t mention the pre-existing medical conditions of the child. That took the attention off of the ongoing starvation happening in Gaza right now and led to accusations of Palestinians “faking” their plight.
Thankfully, through the use of independent media, stories about Palestine have been able to fight their way through the noise so that folks who care about what’s happening there can learn more and possibly help out. Left wing media outlets have been amplifying Palestinian voices by having journalists in the region speak on their shows and tell their stories.
Hasan Piker, the largest leftist live-streamer on the platform Twitch, has had Palestinian journalists and social media influencers on his show over the past two years, all of whom have brought very unique perspectives on Gaza and the West Bank to everyone outside of those regions. Hasan is less of a journalist and more of a casual interviewer, but the conversations do cover many important aspects of life in Gaza and what it means to be constantly surrounded by death and destruction.
Noah Samsen is a YouTuber who writes video essays, basically long-form articles that are spoken aloud with visual accompaniments. He has dedicated his channel almost entirely to covering the ongoing genocide in Gaza and has no plans on stopping until Israel ceases their violent campaign. His most recent video is a perfect example of the disconnect between what gets reported by mainstream media and what Israel does. In the video, he talks about an Israeli official who was able to flee the country after being caught in a child predator sting, a story that was entirely ignored by major news outlets.
There are resources out there, aside from cable news and corporate-owned newspapers, where the truth is being told. Right now, the most important way to help Palestine, aside from mass protesting against further military aid being sent to Israel, is to make everyone more aware of what Israel is doing. Speak out so that we can form a coalition to fight back. Find alternative media sources and learn more. but necessary labor that makes society function.
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