War of Terminologies in Israeli and Western Media: A Critical Media Discourse Study of Israel and Gaza War

Abstract

The current study is a critical media discourse analysis of some Israeli and international Western newspapers and TV channels that cover the Israel and Gaza war after the events of October 7th. The data were selected from various influential Israeli and Western international newspapers and TV channels such as CNBC News, Middle East News, CNN, BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of Israel, Euro News, and The New York Times. News articles directly related to the war were selected and examined. The authors have adopted Van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach (1993) as a theoretical framework for analyzing both written and some spoken discourses. In this study, the socio-cognitive approach is employed to investigate how terminologies sustain dominant ideologies, marginalize groups, and trigger particular mental models that influence interpretations of the Israel-Gaza war. The findings revealed that the selected Israeli and Western newspapers and TV channels conveyed biased ideologies and political stances against Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza by employing specific terms and phrases to construct biased ideologies and legitimize the brutal violence against Gaza. The news frames Hamas as terrorists and aggressive enemies to Israel and national security. Moreover, the findings showed the biased political and ideological stances of newspapers in legitimizing the violence of Israel against civilians in Gaza, displacing Palestinians from their indigenous land, and constructing anti-Semitic ideology.