WE ARE PAYING WITH OUR LIVES

Media figures who parrot Hamas propaganda are contributing to Jews paying a very heavy price – the loss of our safety and our lives

By Rolene Marks

It was the blood libel that spread across the world faster than the speed of light. The United Nations relief chief, Tom Fletcher, speaking on a news channel stated quite clearly that within 48 hours, 14, 000 Gazan babies would likely starve to death. Within minutes, the media, virtue signaling celebrities and social justice “warriors” shared memes quoting Fletcher.

This was the 20^th of May.

Two days later, Israeli embassy in Washington staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered by a “Free Palestine” screeching Elias Rodrigues. He did not know that Yaron was a practicing Christian. He did not know that Yaron intended to propose to Sarah, his love, days later in Jerusalem. All he saw were two Israelis, Jews, who needed to be slaughtered. He ended their lives.

This was not a once off event.

Jumping on the Jew hate bandwagon seems to be the fashionable track for celebrities to re-jig their relevance, or for talk show hosts desperate for clicks and likes to get them. Facts be damned! Just over the last week we had Billy Baldwin on social media platform X, (I know, I know but he is the even less irrelevant Baldwin brother) accusing Israel of not only committing genocide, but “killing 50,000 children”. Even Hamas are scratching their heads at that statement.

The latest iteration of Israelophobic flunky is doyenne of the comedy world, Dawn French. You may be familiar with her role as ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ and one-half of the creative duo, ‘French and Saunders’. Recently, in an obscene clip posted to her social media, French affected a baby voice to say in a nutshell, that 7 October was “a vewwwy bad thing” and infer that Israel has no reason to have responded as it has. The backlash was monumental. French apologised “unreservedly” but I guess a frantic phone call from her agents concerned that brand sponsorships may fall away, prompted a mea culpa from the latest luvvie-turned-geopolitical expert. There is nothing like a loss of brand “collab” to hasten an apology.

Then there was the pièce de résistance (or is that Piers de resistance). Many were gob-smacked watching journalist-turned-shock jock Piers Morgan’s show last week featuring comic, Dave Smith and international lawyer, Natasha Hausdorff. Clearly, the intellectual base was loaded heavily in Hausdorff’s favour as the lawyer has emerged as one of the most prolific legal voices of our generation. With the patience befitting a coterie of saints, Hausdorff calmly tried to explain to the jock and the jester that before believing any information coming from Gaza, it needs to be verified. Despite being interrupted at least 60 times by an apoplectic and expletive shrieking Morgan, Hausdorff tried to explain that there have been SO MANY instances of AI photos or Hamas propaganda easily debunked coming from Gaza. Piers promptly kicked her off and spent the next few days blocking anyone on X who tried to correct him or pick him out for his behaviour. It is clear that the show, which is called Piers Morgan Uncensored, should come with a caveat. Uncensored for thee – but not for me (or anyone who gives me the answers I want to hear!).  I don’t think Piers is an antisemite.  I think he genuinely thinks he cares for Jews – but he is a shock jock, a ratings whore and nothing neutralizes sensation and propaganda faster than cold, hard facts and sensibility.

Jews are not ratings footballs.

These are just some examples that are symptomatic of an extremely worrying phenomenon. The media are playing a direct role in creating a global climate of hate with terrifying consequences. It is not just traditional, mainstream media – but new media including podcasters, social media influencers and journalists who have forsaken the integrity of their careers for personal activism. It appears that the hot “trend” of the moment is jumping on the “I hate Israel/Jews” bandwagon and that hatred sells clicks, likes, and the more sensationalist the content the better. Facts have exited the studio – along with credibility, sanity and dignity.

In the competitive world of podcasting, it appears that the more Orwellian a take on a particular topic, the more popular it is. Another recent example is self-proclaimed “historian” Darryl Cooper. Cooper in a special episode of his “history programme”, “Martyr Made,”  he  addressed the controversy, which had exploded out of his September 2, 2024 appearance on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” the podcast started by the former Fox News host. Cooper defended the claims he had made on Mr. Carlson’s show that Winston Churchill was the “chief villain” of the war, not, by implication, Adolf Hitler and millions had died in Nazi-controlled Eastern Europe because the Nazis had not adequately planned to feed them. Historical revisionism has been given a platform on shows like Carlson, Cooper, Joe Rogan and more and as a result, there is a growing denial of the Holocaust.

Piers is not the only host to trot out comedians as “experts”. This past week, the BBC called on celebrity chef and “activist” Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, (no? me neither) who gave his geo-political expertise on the Israel-Iran war saying, “It’s concerning that we’re sending jets out to the middle east when all the talk should be of de-escalation. If Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour government really wanted to show they were serious about de-escalating, they should stop selling arms to Israel”. A reminder that Israel is striking with pinpoint precision, nuclear and military assets in Iran while the Iranian regime is firing indiscriminately on Israeli civilians. I guess the next time I need to bake a pastry or throw a dinner party, I will consult Maj. (ret) John Spencer, head of Urban warfare Studies as WestPoint Military Academy.

There is a direct line that can be drawn between media coverage of Israel and the astronomical antisemitism around the world. Maybe it is the competitive 24-hour news cycle or race for clicks and likes. Maybe it is the lack of fact checking or journalists who prefer to be activists. It is also highly likely that institutional antisemitism has set in like rot. Why else would news channels parrot Hamas propaganda like it is the gospel?  There is no excuse for it and we as media consumers need to demand better of our media.

Lives depends on it – and we are paying with ours.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).