To someone who made a cursory scan of the country’s TV channels and newspapers after 7 October, the reservists’ anger might be confusing – the Israeli media have rarely presented their audiences with such a uniformly patriotic vision of reality as they have over the past three months.
A “united we will win” slogan sits on the screen for most TV news and talk shows. Politicians face heavy criticism, but interrogations of the military, its strategies, its generals and ordinary troops are muted.
The suffering of Gazan civilians barely features, veteran journalists say, three months into an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 22,000 people, displaced nearly 2 million, and left nearly half the population on the brink of famine and stalked by disease.
“The majority of Israelis don’t understand how the world is suddenly against us, or why we are not the victim that should be supported, like we were on 7 October, when all the world leaders came here in convoy to show support.”
There is information available about civilians in Gaza on smaller Israeli outlets in both Hebrew and English, but people have to seek it out, she says. Few have the time, the interest or the energy.
Christ.
