Deconstructing Western Media Narratives About Israel’s Genocide in Gaza

Deconstructing Western Media Narratives:
Israel’s War/Genocide in Gaza
Featuring:
Assal Rad
Moderators:
Bassam Haddad
Adel Iskandar
Teach-In Session 29
In this conversation, our guest, Assal Rad, deconstructs dominant media narratives in the West and the contexts from which they emerge. Assal Rad addresses the state of the Western media landscape covering Israel-Palestine, deciphers the language/terms employed, and provides examples from her now recognized corrections of mainstream headlines. She also places coverage on Gaza in comparative perspective to illustrate blatant duality in addressing context and atrocities, notably with Russia’s war in Ukraine
Gaza in Context Collaborative Teach-In Series
: • Gaza in Context: Teach...
www.palestinei...
We are together experiencing a catastrophic unfolding of history as Gaza endures a massive invasion of genocidal proportions. This accompanies an incessant bombardment of a population increasingly bereft of the necessities of living in response to the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. The context within which this takes place includes a well-coordinated campaign of misinformation and the unearthing of a multitude of essentialist and reductionist discursive tropes that dehumanize Palestinians as the culprits, despite a context of structural subjugation and Apartheid, now a matter of consensus in the human rights movement.
Co-Organizers: Arab Studies Institute, Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, George Mason University’s Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, Rutgers Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Birzeit University Museum, Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Brown University’s Center for Middle East Studies, University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Theory, Brown University’s New Directions in Palestinian Studies, Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, Georgetown University-Qatar, American University of Cairo’s Alternative Policy Studies, Middle East Studies Association’s Global Academy, University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, CUNY’s Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, University of Illinois Chicago’s Arab american cultural Center, George Mason University’s AbuSulayman’s Center for Global Islamic Studies, University of Illinois Chicago’s Critical Middle East Studies Working Group, George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies, Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies, New York University’s Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies
Featuring
Assal Rad is a scholar of Middle East history. She works on research and writing related to U.S. foreign policy issues, the Middle East, and contemporary Iran. Her writing can be seen in Newsweek, The National Interest, The Independent, Foreign Policy and more, and she has appeared as a commentator on BBC World, Al Jazeera, CNN, and NPR. She completed a PhD in History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018 and is the author of The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Follow Assal on X/Twitter: @AssalRad
Bassam Haddad (Moderator) is Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Executive Producer of Status Podcast Channel and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
Adel Iskandar (Moderator) is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University, where he is the Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies and the Chair of Graduate Studies in the School of Communication.
Subscribe: / @jadaliyya
/ jadaliyya
/ jadaliyya
jadaliyya.com
#Jadaliyya #Gaza #GazaInContext

[@abubakrsalim9622]

Sister Assai is a force for justice and truth. This is my first time hearing her and her voice and reasoning are compelling, may Allah(swt) guide, protect, and reward for her courage and eloquence we are with you Sister!!!

[@gulliegulliver4546]

Thank you for this timely episode. I am currently writing an essay on the effect of media propaganda - 'Outside the Narrative' and this discussion with Assal is helping me formulate my thoughts. So much to take in, I will be watching again.

[@gs123]

The first time I heard Assal Rad interviewed, I was very impressed by her perspective and presentation. And now another great interview with her, this time by Jadaliyya! Well worth watching 👍

[@eyedownload]

Totally agree with you! If only this could be broadcast globally to raise awareness about how the framing manufactures consent! Please like this essential listening to help spread the word.

[@abwab-g8n]

I'm so pumped that Assal came on! She is an incredible educator and voice.

[@montueswedthursfri]

Masterclass from Assal. Thank you Jadaliyya!

[@tanyaaugoustinos7246]

So good. Thank you for this excellent podcast.

[@ellenpearce6257]

My father was a linotype operator for the New York newspaper one day he came home and said he quit because of the black ink over the truth

[@OneOopsimath]

This was an excellent, excellent discussion. Coverage of the US/lsræIi وeסחcídal war on Palestine is (rightly) the focus, but Assal gave us something like a condensed course on media literacy. The lessons can help decode the BS in western media more generally. Thanks to Assal for this and all the work you’ve been putting in. As for Bassam & Adel, I assume many would agree that… meh. (😜 you guys are great! Appreciate you both .)

[@jimmyx2514]

Another banger-take by Assal Rad. I am absolutely awe inspired on how calm, clear and articulate she is.

[@peacenow6618]

Thank you so much for this video. It was very beneficial. Keep up the Great Work! Much appreciated!

[@jedturner9173]

i lived in Palestine /israel in the 90s , my un-biast opinion from what i witnessed firsthand , Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem standing on the roofs in Jaffa with m16s pointing at Palestinian traders , the traders felt very unhappy and oppressed , sitting at the dead sea i met some Palestinians for the 1st time young men who i made friends with they were interested in me and me in them, not long afterward israel soldiers came searched them treated them like criminals, having lunch with my Palestinian friends at tabgha on a table , Israeli guy on a horse came up to our table with a gun and just intimidated us all, my friends whispered say nothing. meeting some jews , some were friendly others hateful and others wished all arabs out. now i have no agenda this is my experience ,judge yourself , to show you further Netanyahu said in his speech each Palestinian is getting 3000 calories of aid, they were doing this before the war as well limiting food water and not 3000 calories, there government is very evil not by there words but actions and inactions... i am scottish and ashamed of the british goverments lack of intervention in this disaster of human life

[@Tesla_Death_Ray]

It is good to see Palestinian leaders unify in Beijing, but I don't see enough for optimism. Israel will annex Gaza, and continue chipping away at the West Bank until its dissolved. Then this debate will be purely historical. It will be like talking about aboriginal claims to Australia.

[@shadetreader]

Thank you so much for this!

[@biffa1234100]

how come this has only just appeared on my YT feed . My god what has transpired in these last 2 months is staggering and this helps explain how it has been allowed.

[@florentdirkthies3690]

just profund and sharp perfekt analysis. thank you so much! same cood be sayd for french and german medias.

[@ahsenzafar8037]

save Gaza

[@jameswaugh8339]

Every single American should watch this video in its entirety, then think long and hard about the true nature of the culture in which we are actually living, then think long and hard about how to think critically.

[@fylhuic1853]

Also, i don't think i completely agree that it's the media parotting the politicians, not in every case. How do you explain the Murdoch/CNN media empire in this...?

[@RobinHerzig]

Assal Rad is an incredible communicator + deconstructionist! Why isn't she on CNN 😕

[@ikewilliams4399]

how can you guys ignore history after a certain point ?

[@montanacreed5826]

US invasion of Iraq wasn't a blunder, wasn't a mistake. Such a description obscures the reality, does what you say you are combating. There's another cause of language manipulation in the press, and it explains why the corporate news is entirety untrustworthy. These are for-profit institutions, who cater foremost to their sources of revenue, and are careful not to anger the government which allows the licensing. The corporate media's business, their purpose, is not to enlighten, but to sell their audiences to advertisers.

[@fylhuic1853]

I don't want to divert from the discussion, but words, and the use of words/vocabulary is really an achievement of the millenials/genZ, they thaught us so much about manipulation techniques and the use of more accurate words

[@HabibElias-p9f]

ISRAEL WILL WIN 😊

[@JescoMr]

Usually I appreciate your episodes very much, but as a linguist, this one I turned off after 25 minutes. Hyperfocussing on singular words instead of deconstructing the *underlying* macro frames always plays in the hands of those exercising systemic (not systematic as Assal called it) power.

[@ericcraw]

I really appreciated your insights, perspectives, & voices of reason. It seems that the US will ultimately have to occupy Israel given its impending collapse on so many fronts. ✌️🌺🤙🪷