WATCH: Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry video Open your eyes about Gaza
Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs released a controversial cartoon this week mocking foreign journalists who covered last year’s conflict in Gaza.
The cartoon, posted on the ministry’s YouTube channel on June 14, accused foreign reporters of turning a blind eye to Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions firing rockets from neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip and the construction of tunnels to smuggle both weapons and fighters beneath the border into Israel.
Compared to the animation style of South Park, the cartoon Open your eyes about Gaza features a blond-haired American reporter on location in Gaza, portraying the territory as peaceful and liberal.
“We’re here in the centre of Gaza and as you can see the people here are trying to lead quiet lives. There are no terrorists here, just ordinary people,” the reporter character says as a hooded Hamas militant scurries to set off a rocket in the background.
“Okay, I’m going into Gaza’s underground city, a fascinating attempt by Hamas to build a subway system. This is actually the first Palestinian subway system which will bring Gaza’s transportation system into the 21st century,” he says in another scene portraying militants carrying arms through an Israel-bound tunnel.
Israel claimed to destroy more than 30 such tunnels during its military campaign, known as Operation Protective Edge.
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The cartoon also takes a jab at coverage of life under Hamas, with the reporter character describing the Palestinian society in Gaza as “liberal and pluralistic and Hamas allows everyone to live in dignity” — with a nod to Israel being an accepting place for gays while sexual minorities face persecution in Palestinian communities.
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But media groups in Israel and abroad are not laughing at what Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon called a “gentle wink” to reporters.
“Quite a few journalists who were in Gaza did not report the rocket fire in residential areas in proximity of public buildings. Only after the operation and after leaving Gaza were these materials released and was real information about what they saw revealed,” the Times of Israel reported Nahshon saying.
“Thus, these journalists admitted they did not report what they saw. What is the reason for this? Fear of Hamas? A lack of willingness to tell the truth?”
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Israel’s Foreign Press Association said the government had more important issues to deal with, such as Iran and Syria.
“Posting misleading and poorly conceived videos on YouTube is inappropriate, unhelpful and undermines the ministry, which says it respects the foreign press and its freedom to work in Gaza,” read a statement on the association’s website.
“It is disconcerting that the ministry would spend its time producing a 50-second video that attempts to ridicule journalists reporting on a conflict in which 2,100 Palestinians and 72 Israelis were killed.”
According to the United Nations, the Gaza death toll included 1,486 civilians: Israel claimed 761 civilians died, 936 militants or terrorists were killed and the status of the remainder of the fatalities could not be confirmed.
“What’s missing from the video? Hundreds of dead Palestinian citizens, including children, who, yes, were trying to ‘live quiet lives’ before getting killed in Israeli assaults on Gaza during last summer’s war,” journalist Asher Schechter wrote in a column for the Israel’s Haaretz. “Also missing: the total devastation of Gaza, which seems oddly quaint in the video, complete with palm trees… and everything that has happened since.”
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Israel regularly uses animations, memes, infographics and social media posts in its propaganda campaigns — in particular the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
But the video followed the Sunday release of Israel’s investigation into the war, clearing the IDF of any wrongdoing and saying the assaults on Gaza were “lawful.” The report also blamed Hamas for the loss of life and destruction of Gaza.
Israel is on the defensive ahead of the UN Human Rights Council releasing its report on the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the report a “waste of time” and called UNHRC a “hostile body.”
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