What to call the current conflict between Israel and Hamas? In a war between two nations a hyphenated noun phrase, like the “Spanish-American War” and the “Iran-Iraq War,” is the way to go. Even though the terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip is not a nation state, logic dictates that we should call the conflict now approaching the one-year mark either the “Hamas-Israel War” or the “Israel-Hamas War.” But the world’s media has taken sides, so instead of logical, objective language, journalists and editors have concocted a way to indemnify Hamas and blame Israel for the conflict by calling it “Israel’s war in Gaza.” It is a disingenuous phrase, and it is ubiquitous.
The most virulent of Israel-hating media outlets take it a step further with the term “Israel’s war on Gaza” (The Middle East Eye, The Electronic Intifada, and Al-Jazeera), but “Israel’s war in Gaza” is the term of choice among the establishment left-wing media.
Logic dictates that we should call the conflict now approaching the one-year mark either the “Hamas-Israel War” or the “Israel-Hamas War.”
CNN, naturally, is always ready with “The latest on Israel’s war in Gaza,” or a warning about how “Israel’s war in Gaza has exposed a deepening global divide.”
The Associated Press in January published its “Key takeaways from the U.N. court’s ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza.”
The New York Times might avoid the term in its headlines, but from its mainstay writers like Thomas Friedman to its daily briefings, it is very comfortable with the phrase.
April was a busy month for the phrase as ABC explained how “Israel’s war in Gaza became a political flashpoint,” PBS declared that “Israel’s War in Gaza becomes a major U.S. election issue,” and NPR showed “How 6 months of Israel’s War in Gaza have upended the Middle East.”
Also in April, no less than seven scribes at USA Today co-authored a story titled “30,000-plus lives lost: Visualizing the death and destruction of Israel’s war in Gaza,” while Axios announced that the “Tide turned sharply against Israel’s war in Gaza.”
In May, Reuters wrote about a “Nurse in New York fired after calling Israel’s war in Gaza ‘genocide’” and NBC tweeted a dire warning that, “Students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have faced disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion. They may also face financial setbacks, experts say.”
In June, Vox looked to the future with “the next phase of Israel’s war in Gaza, explained.”
In August, a Washington Post headline screamed: “More than 40,000 killed in Israel’s War in Gaza, Health Ministry Says,” noting in the article that “the 40,000 figure is probably an undercount.” Currently, the Washington Post seems to be in league with The Electronic Intifada, as it has begun labeling its war coverage the “Israel-Gaza War,” as though Israel is at war with the entire Gaza Strip rather than Hamas, ignoring the facts that Israel has established safe-travel zones, provided relief, and even sent texts to Gazans telling them to avoid areas where attacks against a Hamas command center will occur.
British outlets also prefer the term “Israel’s war in Gaza.” The BBC began an article in December with the sentence, “Israel’s war in Gaza may take ‘more than several months,’” and The Guardian frantically warned in January that “Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe.”
Politico gave pretendian Elizabeth Warren a platform to bloviate with the headline “Elizabeth Warren says she believes Israel’s war in Gaza will legally be considered a genocide.”
The Washington Post labels its war coverage the “Israel-Gaza War,” as though Israel is at war with the entire Gaza Strip rather than Hamas.
Popular specialist outlets prefer the term too. At Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Shtayyeh pontificates on “The Best Way to End Israel’s War in Gaza,” while the Atlantic Council ominously warns that “For Israel’s war in Gaza, vengeance is a downward spiral.”
Ten days after the Hamas attack, The Economist published a war news briefing titled “Mapping Israel’s War in Gaza.” In November 2023, it treated its readers to a piece ominously titled “The pace of Israel’s war in Gaza far exceeds previous conflicts.”
Israel’s most popular left-leaning outlet, Haaretz, ran an article in March with the title “Even Jews Who Oppose Israel’s War in Gaza Can’t Escape It.”
Niche outlets also get in on the action.
The scientists at Scientific American worry that “Israel’s War in Gaza Is Creating Enormous Hidden Health Problems.”
In February, The New Statesman pondered “The fractured reality of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
The Coalition for Women in Journalism ran a piece in August titled, “I have been forcibly displaced 12 times by Israel’s war in Gaza.”
On the far left, Slate wonders, “Is Israel’s War in Gaza Strengthening Hamas?” while the loonies at Mother Jones worry about “The Staggering Carbon Footprint of Israel’s War in Gaza.”
If the phrasing of “Israel’s war in Gaza” is familiar, it should be. The nearly identical term has seeped into the media culture since February 2022 when “Russia’s war in Ukraine” became the term universally used to describe what might otherwise be called the “Russia-Ukraine War.”
Virtually every outlet that uses the term “Israel’s war in Gaza” also uses the term “Russia’s war in Ukraine,” including Reuters, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, PBS,NPR, Vox, Axios, and Politico.
The British media too (the BBC, and The Guardian) call it “Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
The term is also favored by the popular specialist outlets, including Foreign Affairs, Atlantic Council, and The Economist.
For most of the media, the phrasing is meant to be a subtle, almost subliminal way to blame Israel for the war.
And niche outlets also use the term, including Scientific American, Nature, Slate, Mother Jones, The New Statesman, and the Coalition for Women in Journalism.
The parallels here are unavoidable and wrong. The term “Russia’s war in Ukraine” fits because Russia invaded Ukraine. It was the belligerent party that launched a war of aggression, largely against civilians.
The term “Israel’s war in Gaza,” however, does not fit because it implies that Israel rather than Hamas is the belligerent party, when in fact Hamas broke a ceasefire with Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas was the belligerent party that launched a war of aggression, largely against civilians.
For most of the media, the phrasing is meant to be a subtle, almost subliminal way to blame Israel for the war. But through repetition, it becomes familiar, and even outlets that don’t subscribe to the “Israel is always wrong” school of journalism fall into the trap, such as the Wall Street Journal in its January 2024 piece, “Israel’s War in Gaza Enters Its Most Perilous Phase Yet.”
Objectively, the media should use the term Robert Satloff uses at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy uses: the “Hamas-Israel War.”
Better yet, “Israel’s effort to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Better still, though a bit wordy, “Israel’s attempt to free Israeli and American hostages from the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Israel is winning on the physical battlefield where terrorist cowards lurk in subterranean Gaza abusing their captives, but it is losing on the verbal battlefield where keyboard cowards lurk in newsrooms and dingy cubicles, abusing their readers with Newspeak blather and agitprop bias.
Published originally under the title “The Phrase ‘Israel’s War in Gaza’ Is Dishonest.”
