Last week, we got notifications on our phones that said Israel was attacking Iran’s capital, Tehran. Like the rest of you, we turned on the news to see what was going on and what the world had to say. For a moment, we held our breaths knowing what would come next: Iran’s retaliation, followed by escalated strikes launched by Israel. We knew it meant more people dying, as if Israel wasn’t causing enough suffering in Gaza.
The U.S. was supposed to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran the following Sunday. Things felt hopeful. Israel had to make peace too good to be true, not without the help of the U.S. president and his administration. They decided to throw a potentially good thing in the garbage, to hell with regard for their own people and the people of the world.
But what truly chilled us was the media's response. Instead of reporting on Israel's initial strikes, Western outlets almost exclusively focused on Iran's retaliation, as if it happened in a vacuum. The New York Times was parroting propaganda straight from the Israeli military's social media. This isn't just biased reporting; it’s a deliberate attempt to dehumanize Iranians, to make the world "okay" with the killing of Iranian civilians. Witnessing the horrors that unfold when Palestinians are dehumanized has shown us why it’s crucial to challenge this dehumanization wherever it occurs. The NYT’s biased coverage enables war crimes, fueling death and destruction. If world courts ever decide that what the NYT published directly incited violence and war crimes against Iranians – they too would be considered war criminals, according to precedent.
Demand the New York Times Report on Iran with Integrity!
When The NYT runs stories with headlines like “Israel Takes Aim at Iran’s Capital in 2nd Day of Strikes” at the same time as it runs ones titled “‘I Was Afraid I’d Die’: Iran’s Missiles Rained Down on Tel Aviv,” it is clear that the publication is intent on dehumanizing Iranians while providing cover for Israel’s terrorism. If you need further evidence that Western mainstream media is in service of Israel, just look at Israel’s X account. They’ve been making posts like the ones below, which attempt to convince us of the same lies as the NYT — painting Israel as having some principled military that plays by the rules of international law, as if we haven’t watched them murder thousands of children, bomb schools and hospitals, and turn Gaza into rubble for over a year and a half.
We don’t mean to reduce Israel’s terrorism against Iran to a media literacy challenge, but we’ve seen how Western mainstream media has provided cover for Israell’s genocide campaign in Gaza. The two of us were babies when the NYT did the same thing with Afghanistan and Iraq. We all know what happened next: a war on terror that killed over 4 million people in the Middle East, made possible by the very same media outlets lying to you now, pushing you to hate Iran and support more insane violence. Here’s what Palestinian journalists think about the mainstream coverage of the attacks on Iranians:
Add your name to the list of those demanding truthful reporting!
Every time the U.S. seeks to justify attacking Iran, the narrative conveniently shifts to Iran being "inches away" from nuclear weapons. Yet not a word is said about the U.S. or Israel’s massive nuclear arsenal. Twenty years ago, they claimed Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction"; of course, the U.S. had nukes then, too. What is a nuclear bomb if not a "weapon of mass destruction"? The hypocrisy is staggering.
Surely, after decades of U.S.-Israeli propaganda, we know better, don’t we? Now we have the internet and 20 months of horrific crimes against humanity in Gaza to snap us back into reality every time the Western mainstream media tries to sell another lie. This time, not only will we refuse to believe them, we’ll challenge their propaganda by showing solidarity with the people of Iran, who are being terrorized by U.S.-backed Israel. That is our responsibility.
If you need to be convinced even further that the media is trying to manipulate us, think about this: in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the common message was that it was an unprovoked and criminal attack. The media poured out support for Ukraine, an American ally, and then the US sent billions of dollars in weapons to fight that war. However, when Israel attacks Iran, a sovereign country with a government that refuses to submit to Western hegemony — the attacks are suddenly “strategic” and “preemptive.” Suddenly, the media has a million justifications for why it’s acceptable to attack another country.
The reality of the situation is that war never solves any problems. If they truly believe that Iran has nukes, perhaps it would be best not to bomb nuclear sites and risk a catastrophic nuclear fallout. If they were really afraid of Iran using nukes, they would support global denuclearization. Instead of using common sense, they are working overtime to convince us all that Iranian civilians deserve to die because the Iranian government refuses to submit to Western hegemony. We can’t and we won’t fall for it. The NYT has blood on its hands so long as it continues reports on Iran in this way.
Stand with us against propaganda.
This moment demands our vigilance. We cannot allow history to repeat itself, driven by media narratives that pave the way for further bloodshed. By challenging this dangerous propaganda, we defend not only Iranian lives but also the very fabric of truth and justice. Let's act to expose the lies and demand a world where all lives are valued equally.
Educational Links
👉 Here are other ways to engage:
- Tell your Senators to Stop the Escalation on Iran
- Click here to dive deeper into Iran!
- Act Now Tell Maersk: Stop F-35 Shipments to Israel!
- Stream Now – Gaza: Journalist Under Fire
- Dive deeper by joining our summer school: Feminists Resisting Fascism.
- Check out our recent episode on what accountability means… especially for War Criminals.
- Order our new "I Love Palestinian Liberation" Tee!
Until Liberation,
Danaka, Nour and the entire CODEPINK team
PS: We just restocked our pink keffiyehs from Palestine! Get yours now!
