Perhaps you have heard or read about some recent confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Bedouins living in the Negev in southern Israel.
Below are two video clips of the same incident. The first is from i24 News, an official Israeli news outlet. The second is from Middle East Eye, a London-based news outlet covering news in the Middle East and North Africa.
Notice the differences. How is the same story being relayed in each clip?
First, notice the inflammatory language used in the i24 News clip:
- Bedouins are not protesting; they are “rioting.”
- Soldiers are only responding to Bedouin “crimes.”
- That Bedouins would object to trees being planted (without consultation) on their property is part of “Israel’s crazy reality.”
- The only person allowed to speak is a representative of the Jewish-only settlements replacing Bedouin homes and families.
Now notice the language and storyline in the second clip:
- Bedouin protesters are allowed to speak for themselves.
- The protests are placed within their broader context, which (quite tellingly) is never explained in the i24 clip.
The bigger narrative goes like this.
[a] The Israeli government unilaterally expropriates (i.e., steals) land on which Bedouins have lived for generations; it is now called “disputed land.” The Bedouin village is labeled as “unrecognized,” making it easier to eradicate.
[b] The Zionist process of ethnic cleansing and colonization moves forward.
The Jewish National Fund (the largest land owner in Israel, which prohibits Palestinians from living or working on JNF land) plant trees (probably non-native) on Bedouin grazing land.
The Bedouins are told they must move out.
Bedouin homes are demolished.
The people resist and demonstrate against their expulsion.
The colonizers call the Bedouin resistance “criminal” and “crazy” while their invasion brings “noble” results. (A common technique used by settler-colonizers).
These stark differences in how the story is framed and described illustrates both the construction and the power of propaganda.
It also reminds us of how we should doubt and question every news story presented to us by the media.
Watch the clips again. Who is providing a more accurate version of the actual events?
For further discussion of this situation, I recommend Gideon Levy’s article “A Bedouin Negev is No Less Israeli Than a Jewish On.”
And an article in +972 Magazine by Amjad Iraqi, “When a forest has more rights than a Bedouin village.”
