The Israel-Gaza War

Abstract

This empirical study focused on how representations of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in United States news outlets are rooted in dominant colonial discourse in the aftermath of the Al Aqsa Flood. In crises involving Israel, the US administration has shown an ironclad commitment to ensuring Israel’s security and fostering US–Israel diplomatic relations. The analysis demonstrates how these diplomatic partnerships resonate in US international news media outlets. The authors thematically analyzed how online news headlines in media agencies operating within the United States, namely Central News Network (CNN) and The New York Times (NYT), framed Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners from October 7, 2023, to February 26, 2024. Informed by a qualitative research paradigm and Entman’s framing theory, a reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) was conducted. The findings revealed the US political and diplomatic alignment with the Israeli narratives of victimhood and Palestinian dehumanization. Both CNN and NYT headlines echoed these sentiments by representing Israeli hostages within the context of the human-interest, morality, and victimization frames while adopting the conflict frame in their representations of Palestinian prisoners. This study contributes to empirical analyses of the discursive constructions of the Israeli occupation, particularly in terms of the colonial domination of Israel over Palestine as represented in news media.