European outlets named Palestinian victims while American media left them anonymous
Evidence
At least two major European news outlets did repeatedly use the word “Palestinians” when reporting the massacre. BBC News reported on the front page of its website: “Massive Israeli air raids on Gaza; Air strikes kill more than 200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, medics say, as Israel targets Hamas militants with the heaviest raids on Gaza for decades.” Likewise, the Financial Times reported: “Israel launches fierce air strikes on Gaza: Israel attacks 30 sites across the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, killing at least 225 Palestinians, injuring hundreds more and raising the prospect of massive retaliation.” I will not even raise objections to the BBC’s use of the wording “Hamas militants”, its granting the Israeli colonial settlement the status of a democratic state but describing Palestinians who have gone to voting booths and elected Hamas as their representatives as “militants”. The most one can hope for at this point is not balance but simply the acknowledgement of the humanity of the Palestinians, that they are not “200” but ” Palestinians”—bleeding, bones broken, injured, murdered, buried, — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 509
Categorization
- ADDENDUM: Extends the dehumanization-through-language theme with a concrete media-comparison case.