For a long time now it has been difficult for many of us to raise our concerns about the horrors taking place in Gaza without the febrile reaction of some media commentators. It has felt like widespread censorship, an attempt to deprive us of air.
Hopefully some light is now being shed on the horrendous situation in Gaza with the joint statement by GB, France and Canada (allies of Israel and in the case of GB a significant arms supplier to Israel) on 20/5/25: ‘If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid we will take further concrete actions in response’.
It is always regrettable when news outlets, including local ones, decide that an issue with racial elements is too inflammatory and effectively act as censors. It is understandable that a news outlet might be reluctant to air unsavoury views but that surely is part of giving people, all people, a voice.
A few months ago we witnessed vitriolic language of condemnation about alleged antisemitism which has often drowned out a dispassionate assessment of the basic facts of a situation. Witness the story about the Dural caravan full of explosives. News outlets characterised it as an antisemitic incident. The NSW premier appeared to believe it had an antisemitic basis saying it was ‘one of over 700 antisemitic attacks over last summer’. Only later was it revealed that of those 700 incidents 41 per cent were antisemitic, 15 per cent Islamophobic and 44 per cent ‘other’.
It turns out that the Dural caravan incident was an attempt by certain nefarious individual/s to get a more favourable sentencing treatment by NSW police and it had no antisemitic basis. But the whole fabricated incident came at a time when certain homes and synagogues were being vandalised with antisemitic messages and the more provocative and reactive media took the bait.
Rather than publish material emphasising the racial or religious basis of the devastation in Palestine, thereby bolstering antisemitism or anti-Palestinian feeling, the focus has to be on the humanitarian aspects. Like the reports by Medecins Sans Frontieres. Only on that basis is there a pathway forward. The alternative is a continuation of the brutality being experienced in Gaza…
Even the more rabid elements of the Australian media are now reporting on the daily carnage, unbearable suffering, starvation, and shocking anti-humanitarianism that is occurring.
One does not have to resort to trigger language to criticise but rather to listen to the on-ground aid workers for credible reporting rather than to politicians, or media commentators who are locked onto agendas of their party or their racially-biased readers.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
