The trends of Arab and Foreign newspaper discourse towards Israeli war on the Gaza strip from 7 October 2023 to May2024: An analytical –comparative study

The research aims to monitor, analyze, and describe the trends in Arab and foreign newspaper discourse regarding the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip during the period from October 7, 2023, to May 2024. This research is applied to a sample of opinion pieces on the websites of Arab and foreign newspapers, namely the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, the British Guardian newspaper, and the American Washington Post newspaper. The researcher used the tool of journalistic discourse analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, by analyzing and describing the main and sub-thesis, analyzing the active forces, their roles, and the intellectual references upon which the discourse was based. Through this, the journalistic discourse trends of the newspaper websites in the study sample were identified, as well as the differences and similarities between them. The research also used the cultural analysis approach to identify the political, cultural, and religious variables influencing journalistic discourse trends. Through the analysis, the following conclusions were reached:

    The journalistic discourse of the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper website was characterized by an attack on the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and a bias toward Hamas. In the same context, the journalistic discourse of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper website was also aggressive toward the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and biased toward Hamas, while the journalistic discourse of the British Guardian newspaper was characterized by a balanced approach toward the issue under study. The newspaper focused on condemning Hamas and the attack it launched on Israel on October 7, 2023. On the other hand, it condemned the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, describing it as having exceeded all limits in terms of devastation and destruction, disregarding international and humanitarian laws. Meanwhile, the Washington Post's journalistic discourse was characterized by attacks on Hamas and bias toward Israel. The newspaper was keen to demonize Hamas and present the notion that it is a terrorist organization with specific goals and an agenda, exploiting Palestinian civilians to achieve this by hiding in tunnels beneath hospitals, schools, and residential neighborhoods. It was also portrayed as the primary and direct cause of the war, and that Israel's actions were merely a response to Hamas's attacks.
The Washington Post's discourse was characterized by ambiguity in its coverage of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, as the percentage of opinion pieces that addressed the issue under study was significantly low. This indicates that the newspaper's writers refrained from expressing their opinions on the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. This can be explained by domestic American pressure on the US administration to stop the war.
Many political, cultural, and religious variables emerged that influenced the discourse of the newspapers under study. The alignment of the discourse of the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper with that of Al-Quds Al-Arabi can be explained by the political, religious, and cultural factors represented by Arab and Islamic unity and the Arab position on the Palestinian cause, represented by the right of the Palestinians to reclaim their land and establish a free Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Washington Post's discourse was biased toward Israel. This can be explained by the fact that the United States aligns with Israel's political, intellectual, and cultural ideologies, particularly regarding Hamas, which both the Israeli and American sides agree is a terrorist organization whose goal is to destroy Israel and destabilize security not only in the Gaza Strip but also in Palestine and the entire Middle East, in order to serve its own goals and agendas.
Hamas, Israel, the United States, and the International Court of Justice emerged as active forces in the newspapers under study.
The United States emerged as one of the active forces strongly supporting Israel's war on Gaza in the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and the British Guardian newspapers.