Po·grom (n.) – “An organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” (Oxford Dictionary)
As the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, the conflict is most assuredly not contained to just that region. Unfortunately, what we’re seeing more and more of is the rise of antisemites who are using the conflict to further their own hatred and cast aspersions on the Israelites and Jews in general.
But if your only source of news was the mainstream media, you’ll walk away with the idea that Israel isn’t the victim of hate, but oppressive foes of a captive Gazan people. It takes virtually zero effort online to find the atrocities committed by Hamas and its fighters. These are things RedState has covered extensively – from hostage-taking to beheaded children – and they are horrors that reporters across the globe have been introduced to via the Israeli government.
The coverage we’ve gotten from the media reflects what we’re seeing at our nation’s highest institutions (the universities that churn out a lot of our nation’s reporters, if you can believe such a thing). They absolutely believe Israel is in the wrong, that they are simply white European settlers to took the land from the Palestinians, and that they don’t actually have a right to exist. An alarming number of reporters across the country have spent years accusing Republicans – and, particularly, Trump supporters – of being Nazis, and yet they sympathize with people who want to see the Jews not just displaced but eradicated entirely.
In a story most of you reading are likely aware of now, this weekend saw a Russian airport overrun by antisemites wanting to attack Israelis arriving by plane. What’s extraordinary is how the Associated Press originally framed the story.
WTF kind of description is this, @AP?
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 29, 2023
You have a blood thirsty mob checking for passports and searching for Jews, and you describe it as “a protest”? pic.twitter.com/yZloR4sZgW
The AP has since updated the story and changed the headline, which now reads “Putin calls meeting after mob storms airport in Dagestan looking for Israelis on plane from Tel Aviv.“
It brings back shades of that delightful summer of love in 2020, in which American cities burned due to Antifa rioters who sought to sew chaos. One of the most iconic images from that summer was one lone image taken from a CNN broadcast, in which a reporter stood in front of flames while the chyron beneath his headshot read “Fiery but mostly peaceful protests after police shooting.”
The media’s ability to understate the actual problem when it comes to people they see as victims is extraordinary. Rioters attempting to destroy a city are the real victims in 2020. Palestinians are the real victims, rather than the Israelis who were attacked on October 7 (to CNN’s credit, many of their reporters and hosts see the actions of Hamas as the atrocities they truly are, and they deserve credit for that).
This feels like an international repeat of 2020. We’re experiencing what much of the media would like to describe as a “fiery but mostly peaceful pogrom.”
There are elements among the right and the left, conservatives and progressives, Republicans and Democrats, who want to see the U.S. leave Israel to the Arab world’s devices, and they refuse to acknowledge the crimes of Hamas in their original invasion, their actions over decades, their use of human shields, and more in order to further their own anti-Jewish agenda. They hide behind the title of “anti-Zionist” while screaming about the evils of the Jews and even encouraging anti-Jewish sentiment at home, far away from Israel.
This isn’t just a regional conflict. The Jewish people find themselves once again the target of murderous hate across the world, and they are being persecuted for their faith. It is imperative that we stand behind them, not just because Israel is a strategic ally, but because it is right to stand against those who would oppress any group for their ethnicity or beliefs. It is right to stand against human rights abuses – not the load of crap the United Nations (which can’t even bring itself to condemn the violent acts Hamas committed) accuses the U.S. of engaging in, but real human rights abuses as seen in the Israel-Hamas War, in China, and elsewhere.
But the media, which prides itself on supporting democracy and equal rights and all the other positive social buzzwords, can’t bring itself to do it. So we have to.
