Silencing Gaza, amplifying Sydney: The West’s media hypocrisy

Western media typically use neutral and justificatory language when covering the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, portraying systematic violence against Palestinians as defensive operations or clashes.

This is while these media outlets, which claim neutrality, downplay Palestinian human suffering and focus on the narrative of the Zionist regime.

Experts have repeatedly stated that this approach, which stems from structural bias, has led to media complicity in the genocide in Gaza and has undermined public trust.

On the other hand, these same media outlets extensively cover incidents affecting Zionists in different parts of the world and link them to antisemitism.

Reviews show that Western media such as CNN and The New York Times, in their coverage of the genocide carried out by the Zionist regime in Gaza, have silenced Palestinian voices and violated ethical standards.

For example, these outlets downplay the killing of more than 70,000 Palestinians by Zionist forces, while at the same time covering any incident involving Zionists with bias and intense outrage. This double standard has turned Western media into a tool for whitewashing the crimes of the occupiers.

The same duality is clearly evident in coverage of the Sydney incident. Western media widely covered the incident, repeated the claims of Zionist officials, and systematically linked the event to antisemitism.

The outlet The New Humanitarian wrote that Western media such as The Washington Post, in their coverage of the Gaza war since October 2023, have justified Zionist bombardments using terms such as “targeted strikes.” This hypocrisy becomes clear when compared with coverage of other conflicts.

Analytical reports, such as the 2025 report by the Centre for Media Monitoring, show that some Western media outlets highlighted the deaths of Zionists 33 times more than the martyrdom of Palestinians, even though the number of Palestinian victims is 34 times higher.

Similarly, analytical reports such as those by Media Bias Meter show that Western media like The New York Times mentioned the name of the Zionist regime in 99.5 percent of related headlines, while the word “Palestine” appeared in only 0.5 percent, and terms such as “occupation” or “genocide” were rarely used. Analysts say this clearly highlights the double standard.

This systematic bias reinforces the Zionist narrative and suppresses Palestinian voices.

The arXiv platform states that this double standard not only contributes to the perpetuation of violence, but also turns the media into a tool for supporting Western powers and the Zionist regime, while ignoring historical contexts such as occupation; as a result, it weakens accountability and responsibility.