The safety and security of Palestinians and Jews are interdependent, so we should use language carefully
In reporting on the encampments springing up on college campuses across the US, the media seem to have convened a terminology confab and agreed on two descriptions: “pro-Palestinian” and “anti-Israel”. These labels oversimplify Americans’ opinions on Israel’s onslaught against Gaza, which marked its 200th day on Tuesday with no end in sight. But the error is worse than semantic.
“Universities Struggle as Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations Grow,” says the New York Times. “Colleges Struggle to Contain Intensifying Pro-Palestinian Protests,” reports the Wall Street Journal. In Minneapolis, the Star Tribune has the local news that the “University of Minnesota police arrest 9 after pro-Palestinian encampment set up on campus”. Some publications less shy about displaying their political biases take the opposite tack. A headline in the right-leaning New York Post, for instance, exaggerated the literally incendiary nature of the demonstrators’ tactics: “Anti-Israel protesters carry flares to March on NYPD HQ after 130 arrested at NYU.” The accompanying video is cast in red. Ever evenhanded, CBS does both: “Pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel protesters gather outside Columbia University.”
Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books
