Palestinian Suffering: Move Along, Nothing To See Here

By Michael Brull (The New Matilda)

If you're relying on the coverage of the national broadcaster to understand the occupation of Palestine by Israel, you're in trouble. Michael Brull explains.

At any point in time, one could report on what is really happening in Palestine. The systematic oppression of the Palestinians. The fact that Israel rules over millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories, that it has done so since 1967, whilst denying those Palestinians all of their basic human rights.
The fact that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are subject to Israeli military law, whilst Israelis, including the Israeli Jews who live in the West Bank, are entitled to all of the rights and protections that accrue to citizens of Israel.
One could report on the crushing siege on Gaza. The continuing construction of Israel’s wall in the West Bank, unilaterally annexing Palestinian land to Israel, whilst driving Palestinians from their land and homes.
Yet this is not news, because it is not new. People who are unaware of these facts may react angrily to them, and require evidence to show them. That’s a charitable way to interpret how Australian media covers the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Lest I be accused of picking an easy target, take ABC’s reporting on what is news in the conflict. ABC reported that Israel

launched air strikes against militant Hamas targets in response to Palestinian cross-border rocket attacks.
There has also been a second day of violent Palestinian protests in Jerusalem after the discovery of the body of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy on Wednesday in a forest near the city.
Israeli police are investigating the possibility that he was the victim of a revenge killing over the deaths of three Jewish teenagers, whose abduction on June 12 Israel has blamed on Islamist Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank.