Is Sinwar a barbarian? So is Israel’s leading news channel
Even before Sinwar’s death was confirmed, Channels 11 and 12 went into ignominious psychosis and broadcast a picture of Sinwar’s body and shattered skull on a loop
By Yasmin Levy • Translated by Sol Salbe
After a whole year in which the Hamas leader hid in the Gaza tunnels surrounded by abductees, the bloodthirsty Israeli public unexpectedly received Sinwar’s head. Or more accurately, the dusty, decomposed, unblurred corpse of the arch-villain before his identity has been confirmed. It wasn’t only sharp-eyed viewers who noticed part of his brain bursting through the skull bone, partially buried among the rubble of a building that IDF forces shelled totally by accident, without any intelligence that he was there.
In his speech to the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu may have been vacuously lyrical about the clash between civilisation and barbarism, but if Channel 12 News behaviour on Thursday evening is any guide, Israel’s leading news channel should also be counted among the barbarians. It has certainly degraded itself big time. It’s hard to believe how low the fervent broadcasts reached on Succot holiday afternoon, when young children may have been among the viewers — with the only exception being Channel which 13 kept its coverage unsoiled and avoided the disgrace of its competitors.
The terrifying images were broadcast on a dizzying loop, showing the person who was said to be Sinwar, with news anchor Almaz Mengistu’s voice in the background, she was not shocked for a moment by the way she was imposed into one of the unfortunate decisions that turned her workplace into a snuff broadcaster. Even while commentator Nir Dvori blathered that “patience is needed” and was furious at politicians who rushed to prattle on without verification, his channel conducted itself as if devoid of any responsibility to its viewers.
Although Channel 12 was in no hurry to determine that the Hamas leader was dead (but in the background they marked his photo as “eliminated”), but when it came to visual considerations, there was no difference between the channel that purports to broadcast for the whole family and influencer Daniel Amram on Twitter who does not take anyone into consideration.
In those bleak moments, which aroused mainly deep concern for abductees who might pay a high price, the channel abandoned the restraint and necessary distance expected of journalists. The urge for vengeance, the loss of control and the pursuit of ratings made the editorial team bloodthirsty and unrestrained when no one there stopped the farce that dragged on into the evening. “You see pictures, and it reminds me of him sitting proudly in an armchair in Khan Yunis,” Mangistu said enthusiastically with a note of nostalgia, adding that he is now wallowing in his blood and the rubble he created with his own hands.
If there was some expectation that someone on her panel would say that horrific images shouldn’t have been shoved straight in our faces, it wasn’t to be. “The fact that images are shown in this fashion, in the way bitter enemies are displayed, is very, very important,” chimed Barak Seri, who would probably have been just as excited if they had brought the severed head to the studio. Over at the national broadcaster Ayala Hasson was smiling left, right, and centre as if she herself had ordered those fighters to hit the person behind the October 7 massacre. All she was missing was opening a bottle of arak to raise a toast with the panellists. Perhaps she left that ignominious spectacle to ignominious presenter Amit Segal, who had already opened a bottle on air after Nasrallah’s assassination.
With no basis in fact Hasson determined that Sinwar had “tried to escape” because they found banknotes on him, while the unenthusiastic Roy Sharon contended that this was not established. Meanwhile, the herd of guests was delighted by the morbid images displayed on the loop which the channel had barely blurred, just to go through the motion. The celebration was even joined by the former intelligence chief of the Israeli Prison Service, Betty Lahat, who knew the cadaver as a living human being in prison. Perhaps his unexpected death will lead to an apex television achievement for her and put an end to her unnecessary appearances.
During the past year, Israel became more and more like its enemies. Here, too, sweets are distributed to celebrate the death of an enemy. Instead of channels broadcasting the collection of body images on a loop, it may be desirable to make it clear to viewers in a unified voice that the only victory picture worthy of being presented to the public is the return of the 101 abductees.
