Daily Alert Archives

How Reporting from Israel Changed My Worldview

(Honest Reporting) Hunter Stuart - In 2015, I moved to Jerusalem as a freelance reporter and quickly started selling stories to news outlets in the U.S., the UK and Australia, as well as for Al Jazeera English. One afternoon I went to cover a Palestinian protest at an Israeli-run prison near Ramallah. I fell in with a group of about 100 Palestinian demonstrators as they marched towards the prison, where they were met by a half dozen Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians quickly set up a roadblock of burning tires to prevent the Israelis from escaping. More and more protesters arrived, swarming over the hills above the prison, clad in face masks and keffiyehs. Some had knives in their belts. Others had brought ingredients for firebombs. They began using powerful slingshots to hurl rocks and chunks of concrete at the six Israeli soldiers down below. The Israelis were so outnumbered that I couldn't help but question the narrative that Israel was Goliath and the Palestinians were David, because here in front of me it looked like the exact opposite. When I visited Gaza a few months later, I again saw the difference between how journalists portray a place and reality. You'd think the whole place was rubble, but, in fact, Gaza is no different in appearance from anywhere else in the Arab world. I didn't see a single war-damaged building until I specifically asked my fixer to show me one. I went out to eat at restaurants where the tables are made from marble and the waiters wear vests and ties. I saw huge villas on the beach that wouldn't be out of place in Malibu, and across the street I visited a new, $4 million mosque.
2017-06-30 00:00:00
Full Article