Blacklisted: Israeli spyware firm NSO faces sanctions, lawsuits | The Listening Post

The United States' airdrops of aid into Gaza are a textbook case of cognitive dissonance on the part of the US administration - dropping food while continuing to send Israel bombs with which to pulverise Gaza. And the gulf between what’s happening on the ground and the mainstream media’s reportage continues to widen.

Contributors:

Laura Albast - Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies

Mohamad Bazzi - Professor, New York University

Antony Loewenstein - Author, The Palestine Laboratory

Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya

On our radar:

Since Israel launched its assault on Gaza, the war has been a delicate subject for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The war has led to censorship of news coverage and suppression of public protest. Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Israel's cultural annihilation in Gaza

The Listening Post has covered Israel’s war on Gaza through the prism of the media, including the unprecedented killing of Palestinian journalists. But there’s another level to what’s unfolding in Gaza: the genocidal assault on Palestinian history, existence and culture.

Featuring:

Jehad Abusalim - Executive Director, The Jerusalem Fund

In December 2023, The New York Times published an explosive article - now widely discredited - that detailed Hamas’s agenda to weaponise rape and sexual violence on October 7. We reveal the controversies surrounding the article along with the broader issue of Western media outlets’ pro-Israeli/anti-Palestinian bias.

Lead contributors:
Ali Abunimah - Director, Electronic Intifada
Chris Hedges - Former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Yumna Patel - Palestine News Director, Mondoweiss

On our radar:

After they won an award at the Berlinale film festival, the reaction to a speech by filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra has become the latest example of Germany’s toxic debate on Gaza.  Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Genocide in Gaza through the eyes of Israeli soldiers

For months, Israeli soldiers in Gaza have been documenting their own war crimes against Palestinians and sharing them on social media.

The Listening Post collected and reviewed hundreds of items. We asked three experts on human rights and torture to examine the material.

Featuring:
Basil Farraj - Assistant Professor, Birzeit University
Lisa Hajjar - Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara
Sarah Leah Whitson - Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)

Producers: Tariq Nafi and Elettra Scrivo

With thanks to: Younis Tiwari and Tali Shapiro


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With Alexey Navalny’s death and Julian Assange’s extradition appeal happening within a week of each other, we look at the selective treatment of the two dissenters in the Western media.

Lead contributors:

Chip Gibbons - Policy Director, Defending Rights & Dissent

Matt Kennard - Chief Investigator, Declassified UK

Branko Marcetic - Writer, Jacobin

Rebecca Vincent - Director of Campaigns, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

On our radar:

Usually silent in the face of the suffering in Gaza, Israeli TV channels broadcast segments on the abuse of Palestinian captives - with a positive spin. Tariq Nafi reports.

Namibia’s (mis)remembered genocide

Germany’s genocide in Namibia early in the 20th century has long been a misremembered episode in colonial history. Despite efforts to correct that record, many are yet to hear the testimonies of the victimised communities: the Herero and Nama peoples.

Featuring:

Christina Haritos - Communications Scholar

Suzie Ndaundika Shefeni - Researcher and Journalist

Jephta Nguherimo - Herero Activist and Poet

More than a million Palestinians have been crammed into the city of Rafah -  which is being bombed by Israel with the imminent threat of a ground invasion. Western media, however, has once again failed to communicate the severity of this moment.

Contributors:
Laura Albast - Media Analyst, Institute for Palestine Studies-USA
Nabih Bulos - Middle East Bureau Chief, LA Times
Adel Iskandar - Professor of Global Communication, Simon Fraser University
Jacob Magid - US Bureau Chief, The Times of Israel

On our radar:

Haaretz newspaper published an article about Israeli soldiers cooking food in Palestinian homes– the same homes these soldiers chased them out of, all while Palestinians themselves are being starved by Israel. Nic Muirhead on the mocking of Palestinian suffering.


The Kremlin’s youth militarisation push

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has invested considerably in managing domestic perceptions of the war - including among younger citizens.

With the war dragging on, the government’s youth propaganda has escalated. Educational institutions have become part of an orchestrated effort to shape loyal militarised nationalists and passive media consumers.

Contributors:
Alexander Borodikhin - Editor, Mediazona
Ekaterina Kotrikadze - Anchor, TV Rain
Ian Garner - Professor, Queen’s University Centre for International and Defence Policy

This past week’s elections in Pakistan were meant to be a formality, the outcome - a win for the PMLN - predetermined by the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus.

But despite their attempt to manage the narrative and meddle with politics, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, had an unexpected pull with the people.

Contributors:

Amber Shamsi - Director, Centre for Excellence in Journalism
Asma Shirazi - Anchor, HUM News
Fahd Husain - President, AIK News
Moeed Pirzada - Journalist and YouTuber

On our radar:

Two weeks after the International Court of Justice concluded Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza, Israeli soldiers continue to film and upload evidence of their own war crimes. Tariq Nafi examines the material being posted online.

John Kirby: US messenger on the Gaza War

For Israel’s primary backer in its war on Gaza, the United States, getting the messaging right has not been easy. The face of the White House’s policy is US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Despite some uncomfortable exchanges with reporters, Kirby has maintained an aggressive approach in his delivery. Whether audiences are buying it is another matter.

Meenakshi Ravi explores the figure of the spokesperson and the challenges of being President Biden’s messenger on Gaza.

Featuring:
John Nichols - National affairs correspondent, The Nation
Kristian Denny - Associate professor, Columbia University
Prem Thakker - Politics reporter, The Intercept

Israeli intelligence accuses a UN refugee agency of collusion with Hamas – and the media take it at face value.
Israel has for years been claiming that the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) is in cahoots with Hamas. The latest allegations – which coincided with the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to prevent genocide – bear the hallmarks of a distraction tactic. So far, the media have taken the bait.

Contributors:
Diana Buttu – Palestinian lawyer
Tal Mimran – Former Israeli government adviser
Abdaljawad Omar – Academic, Birzeit University
Kenneth Roth – Former executive director, Human Rights Watch

On our radar
Last month, a New York Times investigation carried Israeli allegations of sexual violence by Hamas during its October 7 attacks. Meenakshi Ravi explains why that story is being called into question.

Germany’s ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech
Historical guilt and the stifling of pro-Palestinian dissent in Germany.

Contributors:
Hebh Jamal – Palestinian journalist
Hanno Hauenstein – Journalist and former editor, Berliner Zeitung
Wieland Hoban – Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace

Part 1: What does the ICJ ruling mean for Israel?

Judgement day at the International Court of Justice. The court has ruled the people of Gaza must be protected from genocidal acts carried out by Israel.

Richard Gizbert is joined by producer Tariq Nafi to discuss the impact this ruling could have on how the media discuss the war in Gaza.

Part 2: Mohammed el-Kurd on Palestinian resistance

Writer and journalist Mohammed el-Kurd in a video essay on Palestinian resistance and the Western media’s warped coverage of Palestine.

Contributor:
Mohammed el-Kurd - Writer and journalist

Part 3: India: Temple opening or election campaign kickoff?

A long-anticipated – and deeply contentious - consecration of a Hindu temple in India this past week featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi front and centre.

The country's mainstream media enthusiastically played along, giving Modi valuable airtime in what is an election year.

Contributors:
Apoorvanand - Professor, Delhi University
Seema Chishti - Editor, The Wire
Pamela Philipose - Author, Media's Shifting Terrain
Sreemoy Talukdar - Deputy executive editor, Firstpost

The ICJ hearings have drawn scorn as well as shock from Israel’s media punditry. In the West, however, the case has emboldened journalists to ask tougher questions of the Israeli narrative.

Lead contributors:
Oren Ziv - Reporter, +972 Magazine
Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya
Selma Carmey - Human rights lawyer
Gideon Levy - Columnist, Haaretz
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project; Former Israeli political adviser

On our radar:

Australia’s public broadcaster- ABC - fired a radio host after she shared a report on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis to her social media. Meenakshi Ravi reports on a leak showing a pro-Israel pressure group may have been involved.

Feature: Top marks for Finland

Finland’s educational drive around media literacy offers a model for educators, broadcasters and countries around the world.

Feature contributors:
Leo Pekkala - Deputy director, National Audiovisual Institute
Mari Vesanummi - Media education producer, YLE
Valtteri Kela - Finnish language teacher, Helsinki French Finnish School
Valentina Uitto - History teacher, Helsinki French Finnish School

With the International Court of Justice deliberating over South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, we look at how the proceedings could affect reporting on the war.

Contributors:
Qaanitah Hunter - Journalist, News24
Nimer Sultany - Editor-in-Chief, The Palestine Yearbook of International Law
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project
Tony Leon - Political commentator

On our radar:

In Ecuador, masked gang members break into the studio of the state broadcaster, firing at staff and taking hostages. Tariq Nafi explains the country’s gang violence crisis and why the media has become a target.

Feature - Sudan: 2023’s Forgotten War

Thousands killed, millions displaced - the crisis in Sudan continues unabated and underreported. Two Sudanese journalists reflect on the coverage of Sudan’s civil war.

Contributors:
Yassmin Abdel-Magied - Editor, Eyes on Sudan
Isma’il Kushkush - Sudanese-American journalist

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#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #SouthAfrica #News

After three months of destruction, displacement and the killing of Palestinians, we take a deep dive into the way the Gaza story has been covered.

Since the attacks on October 7, The Listening Post has interviewed a range of experts on the news coverage – what’s missing in it, and how it has helped enable the crimes being waged on Palestinians in Gaza.

In this special edition, we’ve compiled three interviews – with one journalist, one expert on human rights and another on digital rights. They talk us through the way the media – through their news coverage – have helped pave the way to a genocide.

Contributors:
Francesca Albanese – United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Marwa Fatafta – MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access Now
Mariam Barghouti – Writer and journalist