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The slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" has been chanted by demonstrating activists countless times since October 7. Taken at face value, the slogan suggests replacing Israel with Palestine and implies that millions of Israelis should be, at best, left without a country. This isn't a slogan for peace. The Israelis I know hear it as an existential threat.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the slogan continues to be chanted at campus demonstrations across the country. Instead of questioning the inflammatory language, our rabidly anti-Israel independent media is trying to rationalize its use. "Don't Buy the Right-Wing Disinformation Campaign on 'From the River to the Sea'" urges Truthout in a headline before admitting in the story that the slogan originated with Palestinian nationalists in the 1960s. The article's overall message is that we shouldn't take the slogan at face value, but should instead interpret it as a call for Palestinians to have a semi-autonomous democratic homeland under the British Mandate in Palestine.
Independent media's position on the sexual violence carried out by Hamas and related militants on October 7 is even weirder. Many outlets are outright denying that sexual violence was part of the attack. Here's a quote from a Max Blumenthal piece:
Initiated at Israel's United Nations mission in December 2023 with speeches by neoliberal tech oligarch Sheryl Sandberg and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and speaking fees from Israel lobby organizations, Tel Aviv's propaganda blitz has yet to produce a single self-identified victim of sexual assault by Hamas.
Mint Press News went so far as to title an article, "Did Hamas Carry Out Mass Rapes on October 7?" Written by Robert Inlakesh, this piece makes the case that all claims of Hamas' sexual violence are lies being spread by Israel for propaganda purposes. This position actually appears to be the consensus in indi media these days. As Aaron Maté wrote in December: "Actually, only one thing is true: as of now, there are only unsubstantiated claims of sexual violence against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7th, and ample grounds to question them."
Did Maté change his tune as more and more claims of sexual violence were substantiated? Did Inlakesh update his article after Screams Before Silence came out? Did Blumenthal update his position? Not that I've seen.
At this point, more of the horrors of October 7 are coming into focus. Here's a Washington Post piece that gets into it. And here are some findings from a United Nations mission report about it:
Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery. ... At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. ... With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.
Indi media appears ready to dismiss all of this as still more Israeli propaganda. They claim to care about the Palestinian people while tacitly supporting Hamas, a group that's always been horrible for the Palestinian people. Some activists even support Hamas explicitly, recasting the terrorists as freedom fighters justifiably battling an evil empire.
All of this has left me feeling disappointed by alt media. The narrative they're pushing is toxic and delusional. It's also wildly popular, particularly with activists. That Israel continues to perpetrate war crimes in Gaza only makes matters worse. Some reason that if Israel is committing war crimes, and Hamas is fighting Israel, then Hamas must not be so bad. But Hamas is that bad.
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