Episode 13

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Published on:

16th Jan 2025

Why The Media Won't Call It Genocide

Suchitra, Bhakti, and Madhuri tackle the harrowing question: why won’t the media call what is happening in Palestine a genocide? Through incisive analysis, the hosts unravel the complicity of international law and media institutions in denying and obfuscating the reality of genocide, exposing the colonial frameworks that govern both. They discuss the ICC’s delayed and inadequate response, the ICJ’s groundbreaking yet overlooked ruling, and the broader power structures that perpetuate injustice. This episode draws connections between systemic impunity, media narratives, and the global silence surrounding the atrocities in Gaza.

The conversation also interrogates why the media refrains from using words like “genocide” or “apartheid,” instead acting as a defense mechanism for Israel’s exceptionalism. From the role of institutions like the ICC, ICJ, and the United Nations, to the complicity of major media outlets like The New York Times and the BBC, the hosts explore how language, denialism, and selective accountability create a fertile ground for the erasure of Palestinian lives.

Key Takeaways

-While the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the response came years too late and included a false equivalence by prosecuting Hamas officials. The ICJ’s declaration of plausible genocide in Palestine, brought by South Africa, marked a significant moment in international law, yet the media and global powers have largely ignored it.

-International legal structures, including the ICC and ICJ, operate within a colonial framework that selectively applies justice, shielding powerful states like the U.S. and Israel while disproportionately targeting non-Western nations.

-Major outlets avoid terms like “genocide” and “apartheid,” instead opting for euphemisms and passive voice that obscure accountability. Investigative reports revealed that BBC’s Middle East editor, Rafi Berg, has systematically diluted coverage critical of Israel, while The New York Times has a history of employing individuals closely tied to the Israeli military establishment.

-Platforms like TikTok are providing younger audiences with unfiltered narratives, reshaping perceptions of American foreign policy and Israel’s role in the Middle East. Viral moments, such as renewed attention on Osama bin Laden’s letter to America, highlight a growing awareness of suppressed histories.

-Denialism not only erases atrocities but also justifies them, perpetuating the logic of elimination. Israeli officials and media narratives consistently dehumanize Palestinians, with rhetoric that normalizes violence and reinforces the cycle of oppression.

Keywords: Palestine, genocide, media complicity, ICC, ICJ, apartheid, colonialism, international law, Israel exceptionalism, TikTok, propaganda, genocide denial

Hosted by Suchitra Vijayan, Bhakti Shringarpure, and Madhuri Sastry

A podcast by The Polis Project www.thepolisproject.com

References

ICJ ruling on plausible genocide in Palestine: https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203454

ICC arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157286

Rome Statute: https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf

Amnesty International, “Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza”: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8668/2024/en/

Human Rights Watch, “Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza”: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/israels-crime-extermination-acts-genocide-gaza

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Human Rights Council, “Anatomy of a Genocide”: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/

Owen Jones, Drop Site News, “The BBC’s Civil War Over Gaza”: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/bbc-civil-war-gaza-israel-biased-coverage

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About the Podcast

It's Not You, It's The Media
Resist media gaslighting
It's Not You, It's The Media! unpacks the ways that the media manipulates narratives and makes you question your reality. You're being gaslighted. Suchitra Vijayan, Bhakti Shringarpure and Madhuri Sastry eviscerate the propaganda, set the record straight and offer moral clarity.

Suchitra Vijayan is a writer, photographer and activist. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Polis Project. For her first book, The Midnight's Border: A People's History of India, Suchitra traveled across the 9000-mile Indian border. A barrister by training, she previously worked for the United Nations war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda before co-founding the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, which gives legal aid to Iraqi refugees. She is the co-author of How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners (2023) which offers a lens into today's India through the lived experiences of political prisoners.

Bhakti Shringarpure is a writer and editor. She is the co-founder of Warscapes magazine which transitioned into the Radical Books Collective, a multi-faceted community building project that creates an alternative, inclusive and non-commercial approach to books and reading. Bhakti is the author of Cold War Assemblages: Decolonization to Digital (2019) and editor of Literary Sudans: An Anthology of Literature from Sudan and South Sudan (2017), Imagine Africa (2017) Mediterranean: Migrant Crossings (2018) and most recently, Insurgent Feminisms: Writing War (2023).

Madhuri Sastry is a former lawyer, specializing in international and human rights law. She was the publisher of Guernica Magazine. Her political writing, cultural criticism, interviews and essays have appeared in several publications including The Nation, Guernica, Slate, Bitch and New York Magazine. She is on the editorial board at the Polis Project.