President Joe Biden is deeply concerned and worried about Israeli behavior in Gaza. We know this because corporate media constantly tell us this.
Biden, we are told, is “outraged” by Israeli missile strikes that kill civilians, has privately warned that his administration’s patience is wearing thin, ordered Netanyahu to do everything in his power to protect civilians and even branded Netanyahu an “asshole”, in a sign of supposed increasing tensions between the two leaders.
Yet these leaks stand in total contrast to the very public actions of President Biden and his administration, which have repeatedly stated that there are no “red lines” that Israel could cross, effectively giving it a free hand to carry out whatever violence it wishes with no consequences. In this video for MintPress News and Behind the Headlines, MintPress Senior Staff Writer and Podcast Producer Alan MacLeod delves into this disparity and explains why we are constantly told that Biden does not like what is going on and not to believe our lying eyes.
Most of these stories, MacLeod notes, are based on little more than anonymous leaks from U.S. government officials and repeated credulously by sympathetic, well-connected reporters. These reporters ignore mountains of evidence to the contrary to carry weight for the administration, effectively helping them wash the blood off their hands and distance themselves from the genocide they are actively supporting. In doing so, corporate media who publish these stories are aiding the U.S. government to get away with murder and are doing a disservice to the public, who are increasingly turning against Israel and its actions.
Washington, after all, has approved more than $100 billion worth of arms sales to Israel since October 7 and has gone out of its way to protect Israel diplomatically, including blocking Palestinian statehood at the United Nations and threatening the International Criminal Court.
Every day, Palestinian homes, schools, hospitals and places of worship are being destroyed by U.S.-made bombs supplied to Israel with the blessing of President Biden. Corporate media, however, are trying to convince the public that Biden is deeply angry and concerned by the violence and by the positions that the Israeli government has taken.
MacLeod concludes that we need a truly independent media that will hold governments and other powerful entities to account. Unfortunately, if this example is anything to go by, we are a long way from having that.
Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.