As Israel slaughtered dozens of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza this week, prominent media outlets employed innocuous headlines to obscure the horrific reality.

In the video above, RT correspondent Anya Parampil points to some examples of what she calls “an almost across the board obfuscation of Israel’s responsibility for the violence.”

A BBC headline read for instance, “Gaza’s deadliest day of violence in years,” while The Guardian ran with “Fatal clashes in Gaza after opening of US embassy.”

The word “clashes,” Parampil observes, “would lead you to believe there are casualties or injuries on the Israeli side.”

In fact after seven weeks in which Israel has killed some 100 Palestinians and injured 12,600 others, Israel has reported one minor injury to a soldier.

Parampil also criticizes the overemphasis on the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, obscuring that the protests have largely been driven by Palestinian resistance to more than a decade of Israel’s siege of Gaza and 70 years of dispossession since the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine before and after Israel was founded.

Parampil notes that after fierce criticism on social media, The New York Times changed one of its notorious passive-voice headlines – “At least 28 Palestinians die in protests as US prepares to open Jerusalem embassy” – to the more straightforward: “Israeli troops kill dozens of Palestinian protesters as US embassy opens in Jerusalem.”

That original headline and other media whitewashing of Israel’s crimes have drawn lots of sharp criticism:

The New York Times changed its headline on the same article from “Palestinians died in protest” to “Israeli soldiers killed dozens of Palestinians” because of public outrage.



media accountability is NECESSARY and can be achieved. pic.twitter.com/w6md3fcrxQ — what r u going to gain from it (@FalafelDad) May 14, 2018

both Vox and Daily Beast casually asserted explosives were used yesterday by Palestinians. This is totally possible but neither provided any evidence of this. Since it’s the core justification for Israel mowing down protestors shouldn’t this, I don’t know, have some sourcing? — Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018

to be clear we've been laundering power asymmetry with the term "clashes" for years pic.twitter.com/g7WuDOUjST — Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018

except it's not the "protests" that are violent pic.twitter.com/AHJkMACBSl — Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018

For headline writers at the BBC today, it wasn’t the #Israel army yesterday using live ammunition to shoot over 1000 #Gaza unarmed protesters (including children and killing 52) that was violent, but seemingly the protests (and hence by implication the protesters) themselves pic.twitter.com/Q5EVBGHLT1 — Charles Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeC) May 15, 2018

this propaganda exercise is so well documented i thought it would eventually go away. not in the nytimes. still 2/3 main headlines on front page fully passive on responsibility for killing. “death in gaza” and the absurd “gazans vs. bullets” pic.twitter.com/fNSIQEIxzk — Timothy Vollmer (@tvol) May 15, 2018

"A CNN headline today reported that “#Palestinians died” in Gaza. They simply died and who knows how? Maybe they were sick, or they died of old age? The passive voice is practically the American corporate media industry standard whenever #Israel kills.https://t.co/NNmJt6NS9G — Maryam Jamali (@jamali_maryam) May 16, 2018

Most western media outlets have become quite skilled - through years of practice - at writing headlines and describing Israeli massacres using the passive tense so as to hide the culprit. But the all-time champion has long been, and remains, the New York Times. #HaveDied https://t.co/rNkdz4yA5c — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 14, 2018

This short report by @BowenBBC, is a masterpiece in BBC propaganda; seemingly balanced, sober & sympathetic it whitewashes Israeli violence & completely obscures the causes, history & reality of the situation, it's "2 peoples on 1 piece of land" nonsense. https://t.co/M3MBvjqo6U — Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) May 16, 2018

Writing in The Los Angeles Times soon after Israel massacred protesters during the first Great March of Return rallies in Gaza on 30 March, UCLA professor Saree Makdisi commented on “how syntax and word choice shape, and even distort, representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“Even if the facts are accurately stated, the ways in which sentences are constructed, and the extent to which details are contextualized, can subtly lead readers astray,” Makdisi wrote.

Some observers noted that the satirical publication The Onion is doing a better job of getting to the heart of the matter than supposedly serious media:

Even using satire its a job done way better than biased lying @nytimes so well done @TheOnion https://t.co/kpD2O6ZTWz — Omar Ghraieb🇵🇸 (@Omar_Gaza) May 16, 2018

I see Hamas controls The Onion too pic.twitter.com/1VBNkmWwyg — Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) May 16, 2018

The Onion ran such headlines as “IDF soldier recounts harrowing, heroic war story of killing 8-month-old child,” “Netanyahu announces day of mourning for fence damaged in yesterday’s conflict” and “Trump fascinated by Israeli cultural tradition of mass slaughter of protesters.”

Israeli Soldiers Open Fire On Palestinians Carrying Potentially Dangerous Injured Friends https://t.co/ctdWKRtJcH pic.twitter.com/VEQpfJe68A — The Onion (@TheOnion) May 14, 2018

Netanyahu Begins Calling For Israeli Return To Ancient Homeland Of Iran https://t.co/HX5xkZqaoS pic.twitter.com/yME6IUm5B8 — The Onion (@TheOnion) May 10, 2018

Cracks

There have been some cracks: in recent days, The Washington Post published a video interview with Palestinian American human rights attorney Noura Erakat, and The New York Times published an op-ed by Ahmed Abu Ratima, an activist in Gaza who helped start the Great March of Return protests.

The Irish Times also ran an op-ed this week by Omar Barghouti, a founder of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.

Though these pieces are important, they are framed as “opinion,” while on the news pages of the same publications, Israeli propaganda often gets spun as fact.

Meanwhile, alternative media continue to provide venues for uncensored discussion.

On Tuesday, I spoke to The Real News about the massacre in Gaza:

I also gave these radio interviews:

Today is Nakba Day, which commemorates the 700,000 Palestinians expelled and hundreds of Palestinian towns destroyed for Israel's creation in 1948. Yesterday, 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers. @daoudkuttab and @AliAbunimah discuss the issue https://t.co/7LT5BU28ZO pic.twitter.com/7TbIZNgQTk — Loud & Clear (@LoudClearRadio) May 16, 2018

LISTEN: I talked about Gaza massacre on @WBEZWorldview. (I start at about 14 minutes 30 seconds . If you’re a masochist you can listen to the Israeli consul who speaks before me) https://t.co/kGUExRxdjR — Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) May 15, 2018

And Democracy Now! returned to form with on-the-ground reporting from Gaza by its correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous after years of bare-bones coverage of Palestine.