Covering Palestine: Historic news clippings reveal US media complicity in Israel's crimes

Historic newspaper clippings from the United States reveal a troubling level of complicity from mainstream media in reporting on Israel's actions in Palestine. An archive compiled by Maria Robles, an independent researcher and artist, documents how Israeli occupation and subsequent crimes were reported before October 7, 2023. The archive, titled Covering Palestine, contains over 3,000 clippings from nearly 700 newspapers dating back to 1724.

The media bias has been present since the colonial period, but the language used has evolved over time. For instance, Israel was explicitly discussed as a colonial project as early as 1902 in a New York Times headline: "Plan of colonising Palestine with Jews." However, the term "colonisation" was gradually replaced with "settlement" in the late 1920s, largely disappearing by 1948.

The archive highlights how Israeli media's incitement and the legitimization from international coverage have facilitated genocide and obstructed accountability. After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, outlets heavily relied on Israeli sources, presenting the conflict as though it began exclusively with the attack. This narrative shift was criticized by Fransesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, in her report on media complicity in genocide.

Robles aimed to "share the reality" of what was happening in Palestine through "public history and public memory," using existing materials and journalism. The archive allows users to filter material by year, newspaper, and subject, tracing patterns, names, and key events. This tool aims to help the public understand Palestine's history prior to 2023 and provide researchers and organizations with a means to scrutinize the shared and reported information.

The passive voice and euphemistic language are frequently employed in reporting on Palestinian casualties. For instance, a headline from the Washington Post read "Israel’s war in Gaza claims thousands of young lives," while another stated "more than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza during ceasefire, Palestinian authorities say." Critics argue that such language obscures the true nature of the conflict and undermines efforts towards accountability and justice.