Jon Marshall

Western establishments implicitly defend the fact they constantly stress Hamas’ barbarism over Israel’s on the grounds that the crimes of each are categorically different – in the apples and pears sense. Hamas supposedly demonstrated a degree of sadism in its killing spree on 7 October inside Israel that marks it out from Israel’s far larger killing spree in Gaza. That has been the basis for every media interview that requires guests to “condemn” Hamas before they are allowed to express concern about the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No one is asked to condemn Israel. It is the basis too for permitting Israeli spokespeople to claim unchallenged that Israel targets only Hamas, not civilians, even while some three-quarters of Gaza’s dead are women and children. On the BBC’s evening news last weekend, presenter Clive Myrie made precisely this preposterous assertion as he intoned that since 7 October, “Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign targeting members of Hamas.” But new reports of 27 Palestinian deaths in Israeli torture centres and the testimonies of savagely beaten doctors from Nasser Hospital confirm how bogus this entire narrative framing by the western media is – one intended to mislead and misinform audiences. Israel claims it is targeting Hamas, but its actions tell an entirely different story. Famine will kill off the sick and vulnerable long before it does Hamas fighters. The truth is, Israel is not primarily eradicating Hamas. It is eradicating Gaza. Its crimes are at least as cruel and savage as anything Hamas did on 7 October – and its atrocities have been carried out on a far larger scale and for far longer. Western establishments and their media have been waging a giant campaign of misdirection for the past five months, as they have against the Palestinian people in previous years and decades. Western publics have been encouraged to look in the wrong direction Until that changes, the men, women and children of Gaza will continue to pay the heaviest of prices at the hands of a vengeful, sadistic Israeli military. The rest of my article Torture, executions, babies left to die, sexual abuse… These are Israel’s crimes can be read here: middleeasteye.net/opinion/wa…