Israeli fire kills five Palestinians waiting for aid in Rafah
US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations
Iran has 'serious' doubts Israel will adhere to ceasefire
Germany backs Israel after Iran war in first high-level visit
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Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Western media enabling Gaza genocide and rewriting history, say experts
As Israel's war on Gaza intensifies and expands across the Middle East, 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 on Saturday, 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 organisations 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 government claims—particularly those targeting local journalists in Gaza. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 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 criticised international media outlets for accepting these narratives without challenge. 'Israeli society has taken a genocidal turn,' says Daniel Levy. Speaking at the Genocide in Gaza conference in London, he warns that Israel's war on Gaza marks a new phase of settler colonial overreach, backed by Western complicity. — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 29, 2025 '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.' 'A new dark age' Historian Avi Shlaim described Israel's media strategy as an aggressive propaganda campaign designed to suppress criticism by labelling opponents as antisemitic. 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 recognise 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.' Speaking to Middle East Eye at the panel 'Genocide in Gaza, War on Iran: What's Next for Palestine?' part of the Genocide in Gaza conference organised by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) in London, Wadah Khanfar, founder and executive director of the… — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 29, 2025 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 marginalise Arab voices in shaping the region's future. He singled out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him 'truly arrogant' for believing he can design that future alone. The panel agreed that Israel's impunity could further destabilise the region. Khanfar warned that the ongoing war may plunge the world into 'a new dark age.' He cited Israel's strikes on Iran as an example of escalating risk, arguing they push the Middle East towards either a nuclear-free zone or widespread nuclear deterrence. Broad disillusionment in Israel Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, questioned the viability of Israel's long-term strategy, suggesting it may be driving the country toward collapse. 'Is this the third Jewish kingdom?' he asked. Channel 4 to show Gaza war crimes documentary rejected by BBC Read More » Speakers warned that Israel's actions were eroding the foundations of the international legal system. Tayab Ali, director of the ICJP, said international legal frameworks remain 'excellent in theory' but are selectively applied in practice. 'This selectivity reinforces Israel's belief that its rights will be protected—even in the face of violations targeting Palestinians,' Ali said. Levy criticised the Western defence narrative that assumes peace will follow Iran's elimination, calling it legally flawed and strategically naive. Ali added that Israel's strikes on Iran violate international law under the principle of self-defence. He said growing public scepticism—even within Israel—shows that official justifications for military actions are becoming harder to sustain. Levy pointed to a rising reluctance among Israelis to report for military reserve duty. 'There's a broader disillusionment,' he said. 'More and more Israelis see these campaigns as leading the country toward a place of no return.'
Gulf Today
5 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Trump betrayed the diplomatic effort, says Iranian FM
Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed US President Donald Trump's declaration that their countries would re-engage in nuclear negotiations in the coming week. 'If our interests require a return to negotiations, we will consider it. But at this time, no agreement or promise has been made, and no talks have taken place.' Araghchi made the point that they were negotiating when Israel launched its June 13th unprovoked attack on Iran. Trump followed up last weekend by striking three Iranian nuclear sites with bunker buster bombs with the intention of finishing off Iran's nuclear programme. Araghchi accused Trump of betraying the diplomatic effort to resolve differences. While Trump claimed the US had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said the sites had been seriously damaged but suggested that Iran should be able to enrich uranium "in a matter of months." According to CNN, the Trump administration could encourage Iran to resume talks by offering $20-30 billion to establish a civilian nuclear energy programme without Iranian enrichment of its own nuclear fuel. The finance, it is said, could be provided by the Gulf countries, naturally not the US. The administration would also ease sanctions and unfreeze Iranian assets in foreign banks. While such a speculative deal has been deliberately leaked and widely reported, it is unlikely to materialise. It looks like "pie in the sky," as the saying goes. Tehran is unlikely to reject a return to talks, but Iran is still assessing its military, political, and diplomatic losses from Israel's 12-day war and US strikes on its nuclear sites. Iran has to lay down its own conditions and decide when the atmosphere is propitious before re-engaging. Iran has laid down two red lines: low level uranium enrichment must continue on Iranian soil and Iran will not discuss its ballistic missile programme which Iran argues is essential for self-defence. Trump seeks to cross these red lines by eliminating both domestic enrichment and missiles. Trust has not characterised Iranian-US relations since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over-threw Washington's ally Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in early 1979 and, radical "students" seized control of the US embassy in Tehran and held staff for 444 days. They were not freed until Ronald Regan had taken over the US presidency from Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately, this gesture did not clear the way for the restoration of relations due to US rejectionism. The blow of losing the Shah, compounded by the humiliation of the embassy occupation made the US, particularly Congress, testy and unforgiving and easily influenced by domestic and Israeli anti-Iran hawks. Iranian popular trust in the US was undermined during the decades-long the rule of the shah who developed Iran's economy and carried out modernising social reforms but ruled with an iron fist. His tool was his intelligence agency Savak which allied with the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad. The shah put Iran firmly in the Western camp during the Cold War with the Soviet Union and adopted pro-Israel policies. Iranian resentment continues over the 1953 US-British coup against popularly elected Prime Minister Mossadegh who nationalised the Anglo-Iranian oil company. Resentment intensified when in 1954, the shah reached a deal giving Western countries control of Iran's oil industry. He also allowed US companies to play a dominant role in trade and Iran's domestic markets. This was exploited by the Iranian opposition, especially Khomeini who mounted his "revolution" from exile in France. He returned to Tehran in early 1979 after the shah had fled to the US. After several years of turmoil, Khomeini installed the cleric-dominated model of governance A decade after the fall of Shah, Iran's President Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997) tried and failed to reconcile with the US and the West. He was followed by Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005) who in 1999 launched his "Dialogue of Civilisations" which he hoped would achieve this end. One effort in this campaign was a Cyprus conference attended by US scholars, policy makers, influential Iranians, and foreign correspondents. While Khatami's call for dialogue failed to change Washington, one result of this conference was the creation of the website Gulf 2000 which continues to provide platform for information and comment on Iran, the Gulf and the region. Khatami was succeeded by erratic hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013). His hostile attitude toward the US and the West gave a boost to the powerful anti-Iran lobby in Washington, which was heavily influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who had tried for three decades to drag the US into a war with Iran. The landmark 2015 agreement limiting Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions was negotiated during the presidency of reformist Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021). Iran carried out its commitments under the Obama administration deal and secured some relief from sanctions which had crippled its economy. At that time, IAEA chief Grossi said Iran's nuclear programme was "primitive." The deal restricted enrichment to 3.67 per cent for civilian power plants, reduced its stockpile, compelled Iran to export enriched uranium above the limit, and compelled Iran to use old model centrifuges for enrichment. Iran was subjected to the most stringent and invasive regime of monitoring and inspections ever imposed on any country. However, in 2018, Trump aborted the deal and proclaimed1,500 sanctions, disrupting the process of reconstituting US-Iran relations. Iran responded in 2019 by enriching uranium to 20 and 60 per cent, amassing a large stockpile, building advanced centrifuges, and curbing IAEA monitoring, Hardliners in the Iranian clerical establishment engineered the 2021 election of Ebrahim Raisi who reverted to an anti-US stance until he died in a helicopter crash in 2024. Iran again swung to the reformist faction by electing Masoud Pezeshkian as president who had pledged to clinch a new nuclear agreement. Having failed to restore relations with the US, which remains Iran's chief antagonist on the global scene, Tehran has cultivated ties within the region. This process was expanded by the 2023 restoration of Saudi Iranian relations and promised the stability Gulf countries require to pursue economic and social advancement. This has been jeopardised by Israel's war on Iran and US military and political intervention.
Khaleej Times
7 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Trump says 'very wealthy' group found to buy TikTok
President Donald Trump said Sunday a group of buyers had been found for TikTok, which faces a looming ban in the United States due to its China ties, adding he could name the purchasers in two weeks. "We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way," Trump said in an interview on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. "Very wealthy people. It's a group of wealthy people," the president said, without revealing more except to say he would make their identities known "in about two weeks." The president also said he would likely need "China approval" for the sale, "and I think President Xi (Jinping) will probably do it." TikTok is owned by China-based internet company ByteDance. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's inauguration on January 20. But the Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause. In mid-June Trump extended a deadline for the popular video-sharing app by another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. Tech experts quickly described the TikTok kerfuffle as a symbol of the heated US-China tech rivalry. While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform -- which boasts almost two billion global users -- after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. "I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok," Trump told NBC News in early May. "If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension." Now after two extensions pushed the deadline to June 19, Trump has extended it for a third time. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay ByteDance "a lot of money" for TikTok's US operations. The previous month he said China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over Trump's tariffs on Beijing. ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be "subject to approval under Chinese law."
