Western Media Takes Notice of Starvation in Gaza as Millions Face Famine

“The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited,” according to rule 53 of the International Committee of the Red Cross's Humanitarian Law Database.

After unprecedented criticism, The New York Times was forced to admit last week an article parroting Israeli atrocity propaganda of mass rape on October 7 lacked evidence.

Now, amidst claims of a racist witchhunt targeting Arab writers, the controversial newspaper has inched closer towards acknowledging Israel’s use of mass starvation against the residents of Gaza. One Palestinian family’s story appeared Saturday on the Times’ website.

“It is all too easy to trace the skull beneath the Gazan boy’s face,” began the article, written with the assistance of Bilal Shbair, a Gaza resident the newspaper has worked with over the last few days after months of criticism of its coverage. “In one of a series of news photographs of the boy, Yazan Kafarneh, taken with his family’s permission as he struggled for his life, his long-lashed eyes stare out, unfocused.”

“By Monday, Yazan was dead.”

“The pictures of Yazan circulating on social media have quickly made him the face of starvation in Gaza,” acknowledged the Times, recognizing a phenomenon that’s gradually forced major news outlets to respond to the inadequacy of their reporting.

A similar dynamic occurred when US Airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington last month in a dramatic act of political protest. Video of the shocking incident went viral, forcing mainstream media to pick up the story even though a similar protest last year in Atlanta drew little attention.

State broadcaster NPR spent a little over a minute covering the incident before pivoting to generalized discussion of political protest by US veterans, invoking the liberal hobgoblin of the January 6 riots and clarifying “the Jewish state… claims self-defense.”

Just under 31,000 Palestinian lives have been lost amidst Israel's "self defense" according to the most recent estimates. At least 300,000 are at risk of dying within days like Yazan did.

Widespread knowledge of that, too, is made possible in part by the existence of the Internet. In 1977, journalist Carl Bernstein shocked the world with revelations of large-scale efforts by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to shape journalism in the United States. More than 400 reporters had secretly worked with the agency, according to Bernstein, as part of an effort that secured the cooperation of “America’s most powerful news media.”

Chief executives at newspapers like the Miami Herald, broadcast outlets like ABC and NBC, and wire services like AP, UPI, and Scripps‑Howard all lent their support. “By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with The New York Times, CBS and Time Inc,” wrote Bernstein.

The efforts were part of a program known as Operation Mockingbird.

US allies presided over their own attempts to bend global media to their will. Perhaps one of the most significant only came to light in 2020, when declassified documents revealed that for decades Reuters had been funded by an anti-Soviet propaganda unit linked to British intelligence.

The existence of social media makes certain stories more difficult to ignore, as much as Western countries try to mold public opinion there, too. When all else fails, the blunt instrument of legislative action remains a final option.

The full extent of intelligence agencies’ infiltration of the media now, as then, remains unknown. But unlike the Soviet Union, the United States makes no effort to challenge the prevailing economic and social system. Arthur Sulzberger was never asked to do anything that conflicted with his own self-interest, nor are any of the other sons and daughters of privilege who fill most important positions within an industry that’s more insular and consolidated than ever.

The Times’ article includes the obligatory statement from Israel on the matter. “On Friday, the Israeli agency known as COGAT, which regulates aid to Palestinians, said, ‘Israel is also exerting a constant and significant effort to find solutions that will bring aid more smoothly into the Gaza Strip, and into its northern area in particular,” the story reads.

It’s an obvious lie. But one can’t expect The New York Times to hold Israeli officials accountable.

“Like all Times journalists, I am committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook,” the article’s co-author Vivian Yee helpfully explains in her online bio. “Because I often report in authoritarian countries, I work hard to scrutinize government statements for spin, propaganda and misinformation.”

The failure to probe the Israeli statement suggests Yee doesn’t apply such standards to Israel. Only US adversaries are “authoritarian,” after all. Being the global hegemon means never having your war crimes acknowledged.