{"id":44438,"date":"2023-10-24T04:58:05","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T12:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=44438"},"modified":"2023-10-24T16:18:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:18:33","slug":"israel-gaza-and-the-language-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/10\/24\/israel-gaza-and-the-language-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel, Gaza, and the Language of War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a typical quick summary of the dire situation in Gaza from CNN Monday AM:<\/p>\n

The US is seeking to delay an\u00a0Israeli ground offensive\u00a0<\/a>in Gaza amid calls to free more hostages held there by Hamas and\u00a0allow aid into the besieged enclave<\/a>. A senior Israeli official told CNN there will be “no ceasefire” in Gaza, but emphasized efforts are ongoing to free the more than 200 hostages in the region “as quickly as possible.” However, the official added, “humanitarian efforts cannot be allowed to impact the mission to\u00a0dismantle Hamas<\/a>.” More than 4,600 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7 and over 14,200 others wounded, the health ministry there said.<\/em><\/p>\n

Conditions on the ground in Gaza continue to deteriorate as Israel repeatedly bombards the strip with airstrikes.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For “Israeli ground offensive,” substitute massive military assault<\/strong>.\u00a0 Note the mention of hostages held by Hamas but no mention of hostages\/prisoners held by Israel. \u00a0“Besieged enclave” \u2013 open-air prison<\/strong> or concentration camp<\/strong> under constant bombing would be more telling. \u00a0“Dismantle Hamas”: the IDF goal is the total destruction<\/strong> of Hamas, with the death of civilians being blamed on Hamas because \u201cthey\u201d allegedly use human shields, i.e. the Israeli government and military is never to blame.<\/p>\n

Note the passive voice: 4600 people “have been killed in Gaza” \u2013 well, who’s killed them?\u00a0 Who’s wounded 14,200 others?\u00a0 With weapons provided by which countries?<\/p>\n

Conditions in Gaza continue to “deteriorate”: What does this mean, specifically?\u00a0 Lack of food, water, power, people dying in hospitals due to lack of supplies, people screaming in agony due to lack of anaesthesia, etc. And why are they \u201cdeteriorating\u201d? It\u2019s not just due to airstrikes by Israel. The Israeli government\u2019s decision to stop food, fuel, electricity, and water to Gaza is creating the conditions for death and illness on a massive scale.<\/p>\n

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Looks like bombs over Gaza today \u2013 what can you do? It\u2019s just the weather (Caitlin Johnstone)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Caitlin Johnstone has a fine critique<\/a> about how Israeli bombing is being reported by the Western press. In essence, it\u2019s reported as if bombs are simply dropping from the sky on Gaza: massive bombing as a very bad hail storm that must be endured and over which humans have no control.<\/p>\n

Pay very close attention to how this war is being reported, especially in the Western mainstream press. For we all know the saying that the first casualty of war is truth.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: I\u2019m involved with an effort, \u201cWords About War Matter<\/a>,\u201d and the group led by David Vine has posted guidance for language related to Israel, Hamas, and Gaza.<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. Here\u2019s a typical quick summary of the dire situation in Gaza from CNN Monday AM: The US is seeking to delay an\u00a0Israeli ground offensive\u00a0in Gaza amid calls to free more hostages held there by Hamas and\u00a0allow aid into the besieged enclave. A senior Israeli official told CNN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-44438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Pay Attention to What You Read"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44438"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44460,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44438\/revisions\/44460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44438"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}