Distorting reality to justify racism against Palestinians
When the media allows liar and racist politicians to lie and exude racism without account, it’s no wonder that lies and racism flood the Israeli public discourse and threaten to drown us all.
By Yoana Gonen • Translated by Sol Salbe
Sometimes it seems to me that the fact that the residents of this country still have a few hairs on their heads is a miracle — after all, every interview with a minister or Knesset member from the coalition leads to an uncontrollable need to tear it all off. A great example of this was the conversation that journalist Mazal Mualem had yesterday with MK Zvika Fogel of Otzma Yehudi [Jewish Power]t, a party whose members hate facts even more than they hate Arabs.
Muallem asked Fogel what he thought about the arrest of Intisar Hijazi (or “the teacher from Tamra,” as they both called her throughout the interview, because, as we know, Arabs have no names and are therefore difficult to identify under the blindfold). “You look at the teacher on TikTok and I look at the fact that this teacher has at least 30 ticking bombs in her hands,” Fogel said in a threatening tone. The ticking bombs are actually ticking children, who are being taught by Hijazi to take care of animals — but for Fogel, even a toddler with a rabbit is suspected of being a fifth column if their ethnic origin is the wrong one.
“I see the danger of a teacher who supports terrorism and about it on TikTok,” continued Fogel, who apparently imagines TikTok as a dark world of terrorists and posters. “Do you actually know she supports terrorism?” asked Mualem. “Yes, I know exactly what she’s doing,” Fogel replied, “I don’t want any of her students to grab a gun tomorrow morning.” Hijazi merely posted an innocent video, but Fogel’s confusion is understandable: His party is headed by a man convicted of supporting terrorism, and that leader really loves making TikTok videos and handing out guns.
In conclusion, Mualem wondered if Fogel was “comfortable with the arrest, replete with a blindfold and the abusive treatment she received.” The MK replied without blinking an eyelid: “If I could do this to more teachers, I would do it,” because “we all know that they grow up in an atmosphere in which textbooks teach them that Israel has no right to exist.” From his remarks, it is clear that he has no idea that Arab schools in Israel are part of the Israeli education system. And it is his coalition partners who are responsible for the extremist nationalist content taught there.
We can continue to chuckle at how Fogel distorts reality to justify a racist false arrest, but it takes two to tango. Throughout the interview, Mualem did not once bother to state the facts: Hijazi did not express joy over October 7, was not suspected of incitement to terrorism, and was released without charge. Mualem also did not bother to stop Fogel’s flow of words for a moment in order to disagree with inflammatory statements, such as referring to children as “ticking bombs” and supporting mass arrests of Arab teachers. When the media allows liar and racist politicians to lie and exude racism without account, it’s no wonder that lies and racism flood the public discourse and threaten to drown us all.
