A little over a month ago, global media doubled down on its coverage of Israel and Palestine. The biased coverage of Hamas’ retaliation against an occupying force renewed debates surrounding anti-Palestinian rhetoric and human rights.
The student journalists on the editorial board at the Daily Utah Chronicle stand unequivocally with Palestine. We resist the expectation to hide behind so-called neutrality and to be complicit in the Western colonial propaganda that fuels the genocide of Palestinians.
Call It What It Is
The persistent framing of the issue as an equal fight must be challenged. The West has legitimized Israel’s declaration of war on Hamas and allowed Israel to position itself as a victim of terrorism. Israel’s self-victimization aims to conceal its continuing 75-year-long genocide of Palestinians.
To call the situation a war disregards the unequal footing between one of the world’s biggest militaries and the people suffering under the apartheid it’s enforced. The UN-sanctioned 1948 Nakba ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians through massacres, land theft and destruction of homes. Since then, the settler state of Israel has continued to enact violence and murder on Indigenous Palestinians.
As the Palestinian death toll following Oct. 7 rapidly nears 12,000, Israel grows its list of war crimes in tandem. In the last month, Israel has dropped 25,000 tons of explosives on Gaza targeting the 2 million civilians forced into an area the size of Washington D.C. These civilians — bombed in their homes, hospitals, schools and even refugee camps — have little aid, escape or refuge. Israel’s blockade restricts or fully cuts off access to electricity, water, food, communications and humanitarian aid.
Knowing this, we must in no uncertain terms condemn Israel’s disgusting, inhumane actions. We reject the portrayal of Israel’s indescribable cruelty and the Palestinian suffering it creates as a war or conflict. This is a genocide, full stop, and our government is largely to blame.
The U.S. is Complicit
The U.S. sanctions this ethnic cleansing, continuing its involvement in the creation and maintenance of the Israeli settler state. Since 1951, our tax dollars have supplied Israel with more than $260 billion, with plans for additional billions in the works. Beyond financial aid, the U.S. supplies Israel with mass shipments of weaponry and military aid. It has even supplied white phosphorus, the chemical Israel illegally used in civilian areas.
The U.S. directly enables and protects Israel’s endless crimes against humanity. It politically strong-arms the rest of the world into supporting Israel, even vetoing the UN Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, claiming it didn’t acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense. The only people in need of self-defense in this situation are Palestinians, the ones at Israel’s mercy. But, of course, the U.S. stands with its fellow colonial power, further proven by Congress’s shameful censuring of Rep. Rashida Tlaib for defending Palestinian life.
The people will not be silenced. And we certainly won’t allow our government to use our resources to help Israel commit genocide.
“Neutrality” is the Stance of the Oppressors
On Oct. 20, Mecha de U of U organized an event where over 200 students rallied in support of Palestine and criticized centrist stances. After much micromanagement from the U during the organizing process, the organizers had to deal with additional harassment from the police.
“During the actual event, we did have police there,” said a Mecha organizer, who requested anonymity due to the U’s harassment. “There was an undercover cop who was trying to get information from one of our organizers.”
Yet at a vigil for Israel, President Taylor Randall had no issue coming forward to speak. The U has attempted to distance itself from the issue by playing both sides. It released a reductive statement that propped up the issue as one that warrants respecting “differences of opinion,” but we see through it.
While nothing new, the U’s blatant disregard for its Black and Brown students is especially telling with this conflict.
“All of this is under the guise of protecting Jewish students,” said the Mecha organizer. “There are many Jewish students who stand with Palestine and who showed up at the rally and are not allowing this genocide to be done in their name. And it’s gross that the university exploits that so they can protect their financial interests.”
The same fake concern that hypocritically harms Jewish people goes beyond university spaces. Maintaining “neutrality” in the name of antisemitism conflates Judaism with Zionism and silences the voices of Jewish people who fight for Palestinian liberation.
The falsity of this concern shines through with the hundreds of arrests of Jewish activists at protests across the country in opposition to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in cities spanning from Los Angeles to Washington D.C., yet we see little coverage of such events. Instead, we’ve seen the death of journalistic integrity as U.S. journalists spread shameful, racialized propaganda.
The Salt Lake Tribune stated that the actions of Hamas may have done the Palestinian cause “horrible, perhaps irreparable, damage.” Yet Israel’s violent occupation of Palestinian land and the subsequent, public genocide of its Indigenous people has not caused the state “horrible, perhaps irreparable, damage.” 11,000 deaths have not shaken the Western media’s unrelenting support.
Stand Proud for Palestine
Many people have lost their jobs over their solidarity with Palestinians. Universities have expelled students and publications have fired journalists. Backlash runs rampant.
But as Israel continues to kill Palestinian journalists and create impossible conditions for reporting in Gaza, our work as U.S. journalists and our responsibility to the truth becomes even more important.
In the words of Mecha’s organizer, “We are literally in the most privileged, powerful country in the world. And we have more power than we can imagine. And therefore, it’s our duty to do something and to speak out.”
We call on our fellow journalists to add their voices to the struggle for Palestinian liberation. We call on U students, professors and all Utahns to resist complacency and let it be known that we won’t stand by. Ask yourselves which side of history you want to be on. Otherwise, our silence and our tax dollars will continue to propel bullets through the air and drop bombs from the sky.
Free Palestine.
The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board is a group of senior opinion journalists who rely on research and debate to write staff editorials. Editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board and are written separately from the newsroom.
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