Last week the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (an international body created by a UN treaty) published a report following a review earlier in the month.
“The…Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva expressed rare criticism over the Palestinian Authority’s hate speech in school textbooks and in its media, and voiced concern regarding the use of racist language by state officials.
The report was adopted on August 23 and became public last Thursday. The committee mentioned within the report the existence of hate speech “in certain media outlets, especially those controlled by Hamas, social media, public officials’ statements, and school curricula and textbooks, which fuels hatred and may incite violence, particularly hate speech against Israelis, which at times also fuels antisemitism.”
According to the report, the committee called on the Palestinian Authority to combat hate speech and incitement to violence, including on the Internet and by public figures, politicians and media officials, “and remove any derogatory comments and images from school curricula and textbooks that perpetuate prejudices and hatred.””
The panel’s report also called on the PA stop its practices of intimidating, harassing, arresting and prosecuting journalists, human rights defenders and political opponents “for exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression.”
Yet, all of the British publications we surveyed (including the Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, The Times, the Daily Mail and the BBC), ignored the UN report, despite the fact that most of these outlets routinely cover the UN’s egregiously disproportionate reports critical of Israel.
A clearer example of the media’s double standards in reporting on the region would be hard to find.
(This post was revised on Sept. 8th to clarify the United Nation’s relationship to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)