‘What happened here is an act of terror. I have been incredibly annoyed by tweets and reports that mentioned this [Hamas]fighters and militants. These are terrorists.”
Dilan Yesilgöz, party leader of the VVD, said on Sunday On 1. Whether you agree with her or not, one thing is clear: words matter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With her choice of words, Yesilgöz underlined her support for Israel. But some people are so emotionally involved in the conflict that they see a political position behind every seemingly neutral word.
How do Dutch media deal with this? From a tour of The Telegraphthe NOS, NU.nl and NRC it appears that there has been a lot of discussion in editorial offices about word usage. ‘Terrorism’ in particular appears to be a loaded term. “We are very aware of our journalistic task to take the different perspectives that play a role in the conflict into account in our word choices,” writes foreign editor Dick Jansen on behalf of the NOS in a response. A small lexicon of controversial terms in the conflict.
Terrorism
Ter·ro·ris·me, it (o.): (committing) acts of violence to demoralize the population in order to achieve a political goal.
This is such a loaded word because it is often used by governments and organizations to place opponents outside the political order. Remember the adage: ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter‘. The NRC style book therefore advocates restraint in the use of the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’. “We prefer concrete, factual, descriptive terms in daily reporting,” such as ‘perpetrator’ or ‘shooter’. Nevertheless, the editorial on Monday stated bluntly: “Hamas is committing terrorism against the Israeli population, and indirectly also against its own population.” But there was no discussion about that, says NRC deputy editor-in-chief Patricia Veldhuis, because Hamas is on the terrorism list and uses terror as a tactic.
There has been long discussion at NU.nl about the use of the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’. The conclusion was to avoid those terms. “I don’t want to go along with the war rhetoric of a certain party,” says editor-in-chief Lindsay Mossink. “Emotions are running high and we do not want to get bogged down in a debate about whether Hamas is a terrorist group or not. If you write down what they do, it is clear enough.”
The NOS does use the terms ‘militants’ and ‘terrorist’ interchangeably when talking about Hamas, which in the latter case usually qualifies a violent action. NOS handles this as carefully as possible, also because some people quickly suspect malicious intent behind certain terms. “That is really not the case,” Jansen assures. “There are thin lines between qualifications such as ‘terrorist’, ‘militant’ and ‘combatant’. That is why the context is important to weigh which words we choose.”
The Telegraph is a lot less reserved. The newspaper headlined Monday ‘Terrifying: Israeli population burdened by Hamaster terror’. According to editor-in-chief Kamran Ullah, no discussion preceded this. “Hamas is simply a terrorist organization. They have been on the list of terrorist organizations for a long time, so there is no doubt about that.” Like Yesilgöz, he was surprised by other media that “initially” spoke of ‘militants’ and ‘fighters’, but later started using ‘terrorists’. He does not want to mention any further media names.
Occupier
Be·zet·ter, de (m.); -s: enemy who has occupied a country.
Palestinian groups such as Hamas see Israel as the occupier of all of Palestine and do not recognize the Jewish state. The area’s original Palestinian population was largely killed or expelled during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. However, most Dutch media refer only to the West Bank as occupied, in line with UN resolutions and international law. Gaza has been under siege by Israel since 2006, meaning that nothing and no one can enter or leave the coastal strip without permission. This means that Gaza is still formally occupied.
Veldhuis believes the context of the occupation is “always important” and that descriptions should be as accurate as possible. The NOS does not always speak of occupied territory, but often it does. “Especially if it contributes to providing insight into a news story.” The NOS also places ‘frameworks’ with context on articles on the site, for example about the life of Palestinians in the West Bank, which can be reused. NU.nl also finds this context essential, says Mossink. For example, a foreign reporter from the site wrote a “strong piece in which he extensively discussed the more than 700,000 settlers who live in settlements on the West Bank.” Only The Telegraph it says something else. Ullah says that the term ‘occupied’ sometimes comes up in pieces, but not structurally as in the case of Ukraine.
Militant
Mi·li·tant, the (m.); -and: active member of an organization, a party or a militia.
NRC opened the newspaper on Monday with a story that spoke of “militants of Hamas”. There was a discussion about that word. According to Veldhuis it is an Anglicism. Many English-language media use the term when talking about Hamas fighters because they consider them more neutral than ‘terrorists’. But Veldhuis thinks it is “an unclear word in Dutch, the meaning of which many readers will not immediately have ready.” That’s why she prefers the neutral ‘warriors’. Mossink also says that it takes “a bit of searching” for the right term. “We now call Hamas a militant Palestinian group.” The NOS uses the terms ‘militants’ and ‘fighters’ interchangeably. The Telegraph is again the outsider. Although the newspaper certainly also uses the term ‘militants’, editor-in-chief Ullah prefers ‘terrorists’ when it comes to Hamas.
War
War·log, the (m.); -and: struggle between two or more peoples, monarchs or states.
Many media are hesitant to call the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict a war since last weekend. Or do they go too much along with the Israeli government’s frame? Prime Minister Netanyahu formally declared war on Sunday to pave the way for a large-scale ground offensive in Gaza. “We talked about that for a long time,” says Veldhuis. NRC ultimately chose the neutral theme flag ‘Violence in Israel and Gaza’. “But the situation is very fluid and rapidly changing, so it is difficult to make firm statements at the moment. The situation could be completely different tomorrow.” Also The Telegraph does not yet speak of a war, and on Monday chose the theme flag ‘Attack on Israel’. Ulah: “But that could be different tomorrow.” NU.nl has also not yet used the term ‘war’. “We have quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s declaration of war, but we have not yet called it that ourselves,” says Mossink. “Because this is an outbreak of violence in a long-running conflict.” The NOS is the only one that talks about a war. “Not only because Israel has formally declared war, but also because the conflict now resembles a war,” says Jansen. “As far as we are concerned, that has nothing to do with Netanyahu’s frame.”
Civilian death
Bur·ger·do·de, de; -n (usually plural): civilian victim of military violence, as opposed to a fallen soldier.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is also a battle over who is the biggest victim. Therefore, both sides always emphasize their own suffering, with dead civilians, especially children, being the epitome of innocence and the adversary’s cruelty. How do media deal with this? NRC continually tries to distinguish between killed civilians and combatants. “Careful reporting is more important than speed,” says Veldhuis. This also applies to other media. “Innocent civilians are being dragged into a conflict on both sides,” says Ullah. The NOS only reports civilian deaths when there is reason to do so and provided the numbers come from multiple reliable sources. At NU.nl there is sometimes discussion about whether too much attention is paid to Israeli civilian deaths, while overall more civilians die on the Palestinian side. Mossink: “We also try to give Palestinian victims a face, but that is more difficult.”