LONDON (Dispatches) – As the Zionist regime’s war on Gaza intensifies and expands across West Asia, media analysts and human rights advocates are raising concerns over the lack of international accountability and the role of Western news outlets in shaping public perception of the conflict.
At a panel hosted by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) in London, experts accused mainstream Western media of contributing to the denial and distortion of atrocities unfolding in Gaza.
The Centre for Media Monitoring (CFMM) presented findings highlighting how often leading media organizations downplay or dismiss claims of genocide. Faisal Hanif, a media analyst at CFMM, said the BBC had shut down references to genocide in its Gaza coverage more than 100 times over the past year.
Omar al-Ghazzi, Associate Professor of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, called the trend “a war on history.” He warned that the use of media narratives as future historical sources could shape how upcoming generations understand the events in Gaza.
The panel also pointed to specific language patterns in coverage. Hanif noted that the term “massacre” appeared 18 times more often when referring to Hamas attacks than to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. He said this imbalance reflected a wider rhetorical bias and an uncritical acceptance of Israeli regime’s claims—particularly those targeting local journalists in Gaza.
British-Israeli journalist Rachel Shabi said Israel has consistently framed its ban on international reporters entering Gaza as a safety measure, while accusing Palestinian journalists of links to Hamas. She criticized international media outlets for accepting these narratives without challenge.
“They fall for the trap without calling it out,” Shabi told the audience.
She added that even when Palestinian voices are included, their suffering is often discredited or doubted. “The media has not only excluded Palestinian voices conveyed through local journalists’ reports, but, at times when it has included them, it has effectively put Palestinian victims ‘on trial,’ portraying them as unreliable narrators of their own stories and suffering.”
Historian Avi Shlaim described the Zionist regime’s media strategy as an aggressive propaganda campaign designed to suppress criticism by labeling opponents as anti-Semitic.
Professor Martin Shaw, a leading scholar on war and genocide, said such tactics amounted to a third form of genocide denial—“implicatory denial”—where actors acknowledge atrocities but take no meaningful action.
“The media is starting to shift, but it still lags behind the reality,” Shaw said. “Even when governments and media recognize genocide is taking place in Gaza, they don’t act to stop it.”
He argued that the era of rhetorical devices such as “responsibility to protect” and “humanitarian intervention” had ended. “The powerful do what they want without dressing it up,” he added.
Al-Ghazzi agreed, saying the West continues to control language and historical narrative, positioning itself as the sole “moral arbitrator.”
The panel also connected media complicity to broader geopolitical ambitions. Wadah Khanfar, president of Al-Sharq Forum and former director general of Al Jazeera, said the West remains determined to engineer a “new Middle East” and marginalize Arab voices in shaping the region’s future.
He singled out Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him “truly arrogant” for believing he can design that future alone.
The panel agreed that the occupying regime’s impunity could further destabilize the region. Khanfar warned that the ongoing war may plunge the world into “a new dark age.”