Why the Media Always Paints Israel as the Aggressor

On January 1, the BBC News website published an article by the corporation’s security correspondent Frank Gardner which currently goes under the headline “The wars of 2024 brought together rivals – but created new enemies.”

That article is presented with the BBC’s InDepth logo and at the bottom of the page, readers find the following: “BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world.”

Much of Gardner’s article relates to issues other than Israel, but several statements in the parts which do relate to Israel’s current multi-front conflicts are noteworthy, especially considering the claims in the above statement.

1) “The situation in Gaza is nothing short of tragic.

The latest conflict there (and there have been many shorter ones before this one) was triggered by the raid led by Hamas (the militants proscribed as a terrorist group by many governments) into southern Israel on 7 October 2023 in which more than 1100 people were killed and around 250 taken into Gaza as hostages. Since then, Israel’s war on Hamas has resulted in more than 44,000 Palestinians being killed there. These are mostly civilian deaths and although that figure comes from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, it is largely endorsed by independent aid agencies.”

Gardner fails to inform his readers that 100 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. He promotes unverified casualty figures supplied to the media by the same terrorist organization which started the war, together with the unproven claim that most of the casualties in the Gaza Strip are “civilian deaths” and even goes on to legitimize that claim by citing unidentified “aid agencies” but without clarifying where they get their information. Gardner fails to tell his readers that Hamas has long employed a policy of describing all casualties as civilians as part of its propaganda efforts.

2) “In many ways Gaza is the well-spring of other conflicts in the region, leading to exchanges of fire between Israel and, variously, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Syria.”

Gardner misleads readers by failing to clarify that what he describes as “exchanges of fire” – while sidelining the relevant issue of who fired first.

3) “Thousands of people have been killed in the short Israel-Lebanon war that preceded a ceasefire in late November.”

Gardner fails to clarify that most of those killed in Lebanon were members of terrorist organizations, primarily Hezbollah.

4) “Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and has fired missiles at – and been attacked from – Iran, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.”

Gardner’s choice of wording leads readers to understand that Israel “fired missiles” before it was “attacked from” Iran, Yemen and Iraq: an inversion of the actual sequences of events.

5) “The US has continued to supply Israel with a colossal amount of military aid – both defensive such as the THAAD missile defence and offensive weapons such as parts for the F35 aircraft – despite the killing of so many Palestinians in Gaza and almost universal worldwide opprobrium. This makes the US – and by extension the West in general – unpopular in the Arab world and increases the risk of recruitment by proscribed terror groups likes Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaida leading to what Western security officials say is the risk of a rise of transnational terrorism.”

Gardner’s claim that US military support for a country attacked by Islamist terrorists on multiple fronts “increases the risk of recruitment by proscribed terror groups” whitewashes the fact that those extremist organizations have not needed any such excuse in order to attack “the West” in the past and of course conveniently ignores their founding anti-Western ideologies.

6) “This was the year that the balance of power in the Middle East shifted dramatically, in Israel’s favour and to Iran’s disadvantage. Israel’s government has clearly decided to go all-out to “neutralise” its enemies, be they in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen or Syria. Red lines previously adhered to, by both Iran and Israel, have now been crossed, with the two sides trading missiles in direct attacks on each other for the first time.”

Once again, we see Gardner muddying the waters by failing to clarify that Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis (rather than “Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen”) all chose to initiate the conflicts by carrying out unprovoked attacks against Israel’s civilian population. Similarly, his failure to note that Israel was attacked by Iran before a response came from Israel – “trading missiles” – promotes a false notion of equivalence and fails to acknowledge Israel’s obligation to defend its civilian population against attacks by terrorist groups, their supporters and enablers.

7) “The Middle East is still in flux. Iran and Israel have unfinished business but Tehran is well aware of its own weaknesses and of Israel’s increasingly aggressive posture in the region. It would not take much provocation to trigger a new round of Israeli airstrikes on Iran.”

Again, Gardner fails to clarify that Israel’s supposedly “increasingly aggressive posture” is the product of fifteen months of attacks on its civilians on multiple fronts by parties he – notably – chooses not to portray as “aggressive.”

As of December 26, 2024, the INSS had recorded over 13,300 rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, 19,500 rockets fired at Israel from Syria or Lebanon, around 300 rockets fired at Israel from Iraq, around 370 drones and rockets fired at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen and 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 321 ballistic missiles launched by Iran in its attacks on Israel.

By the time Gardner’s article was published on January 1, additional attacks by terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the Houthis (which received little if any BBC coverage) had brought the total number of rocket, missile and drone attacks on Israel since October 7, 2023, to over 34,000. Nevertheless, it is Israel which Gardner chooses to describe as adopting an “increasingly aggressive posture.”

8) “There is talk of a grand bargain that sees Saudi Arabia finally recognise the state of Israel in exchange for a binding security deal with Washington. But the Saudis have made clear this can only happen if there is a “clear, irrevocable path to an independent Palestinian state.” That is something that Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to and Israeli settlers seizing of Palestinian land continues apace and with President Trump in the White House its likely to continue further.”

Gardner fails to inform his readers that the Palestinians have for decades repeatedly refused offers of “an independent Palestinian state” or that such an entity is not the goal of the most popular faction within long-divided Palestinian society — Hamas — which, along with other Palestinian terrorist organizations, aspires to “obliterate” Israel.

While no BBC analysis is complete without a reference to “settlers,” Gardner fails to provide any evidence for his claim of “Israeli settlers” – i.e. civilians who happen to live in a specific location of which the BBC does not approve – “seizing Palestinian land” (rather than decisions taken by the government) and he is apparently content to promote the impression that all disputed land is “Palestinian,” despite the fact that under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed by the recognized representatives of the Palestinians, the status of land in Area C is still subject to final stage negotiations.

If BBC InDepth really does aspire to provide audiences with “the best analysis” and “deep reporting,” it is going to have to pay a lot more attention to the accuracy and impartiality of the “expertise” provided by its “top journalists.”

Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK — an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.

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