Semantic war: ‘Hostage’ for IOF, ‘prisoner’ for Palestinian children

Since the beginning of “Israel’s” war on Gaza, US corporate media have largely adopted a clear linguistic pattern: Israeli captives are almost uniformly referred to as “hostages,” even when they are soldiers, whereas Palestinian detainees, including children, are labeled as “prisoners”.

The term “prisoner” often implies someone detained for crimes or captured during wartime, while “hostage” typically refers to a civilian forcibly held, often as leverage.

This double standard was again evident in the recent coverage of the release of Edan Alexander, a dual American-Israeli citizen and member of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

On Monday, major US news outlets described Alexander as “the last living American hostage” in Hamas custody. Anchors and analysts rarely mentioned his role in the IOF, instead presenting him alongside civilians who were also taken.

For many Palestinians, that omission stands in stark contrast to how their own people are portrayed when detained by the IOF. Few, if any, are granted the same recognition or sympathy in media narratives, according to a report by The Intercept. 

Anti-Palestinian bias obvious

Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst and former member of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, sees the media’s treatment of Edan Alexander as a clear example of what he calls “anti-Palestinian bias”.

According to Baddar, many outlets failed to provide critical context about Alexander, including “his active membership in a foreign military at the time of his capture, and more precisely the Israeli occupation army that was enforcing the illegal blockade on Gaza.”

Baddar told The Intercept that US media show deep concern for Israeli captives like Edan Alexander while largely ignoring the abuse and deaths of thousands of unnamed Palestinian detainees held without charge by “Israel”.

Arbitrary detentions

“Israel’s” military has for decades arbitrarily detained Palestinians, including women, civilians, and children, without charges, often in harsh conditions of abuse, torture, and death, with the practices intensifying following October 7, yet they are almost never referred to as “hostages” in media coverage.

Among those unlawfully held are 112 Palestinian children. Palestinians who are unjustly held are often removed from their homes by IOF troops during nocturnal raids, according to Yousef Munayyer, a senior fellow at the Arab Center, Washington, D.C., who directs the Palestine/Israel Program. “I don’t think any of these news outlets are referring to them as hostages, but that’s precisely what they are,” he stated. 

During a CNN broadcast, Alex Marquardt described Alexander’s release as a hopeful sign for Israeli captives but failed to mention the ongoing suffering of Palestinians under a nine-week Israeli blockade and escalating military strikes in Gaza, with scores killed and injured in every strike. 

Coverage of Israeli soldier Edan Alexander vs. 14-year-old Palestinian-American child Amer Rabee

Munayyer also drew attention to the disparity in responses to Alexander’s captivity compared to the death of Amer Rabee, a 14-year-old Palestinian-American child shot by an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, pointing out that Rabee was from New Jersey, just a short distance from Tenafly, the New Jersey borough Alexander hails from. 

The day after Amer Rabee was killed, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., where he took questions from reporters in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump. Not one journalist asked about Rabee’s death, as noted by Baddar. He criticized the media for failing to hold “Israel” accountable, stating that if another foreign government had killed an American child, there would have been intense scrutiny.

Baddar argued that the media’s dehumanization of Palestinians and its uncritical stance toward “Israel” lead to biased coverage, which contributes to a flawed and morally compromised US foreign policy.

“But between a media culture that dehumanizes Palestinians and puts Israel above accountability, we are dooming the American public to biased coverage that is tantamount to journalistic malpractice, and manufacturing consent for the morally broken and strategically idiotic foreign policy that traces an identical bias.”

Palestinian suffering ‘not acknowledged’

Just before news broke on Sunday about Alexander’s imminent release, MSNBC aired a sit-down interview with Palestinian poet and writer Mosab Abu Toha, who recently won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism for his essays on Gaza. Abu Toha quickly faced backlash from pro-Israeli groups and news outlets over social media posts questioning why Western media refer to Israelis as “hostages”, particularly in the cases of Emily Damari and Israeli soldier Agam Berger. One group even started a petition to revoke his award.

“Why are our sufferings not acknowledged, why are we called terrorists, why are we called prisoners of war, while the Israelis kidnapped from Israel are named hostages?” he responded, adding that he and his family members had also been arbitrarily detained and beaten at Israeli checkpoints.

“Does this give them more humanity if they are Israelis, while my loved ones are being named prisoners and are tortured?” 

“Thirty-one family members were killed in one airstrike, and you are questioning me how to use language here?” he said. 

Alexander’s release via Hamas’ diplomacy, not Netanyahu’s bombs

The deal for Alexander’s release resulted from negotiations led by US envoy Steve Witkoff, a Trump advisor, with Egypt and Qatar acting as intermediaries with Hamas.

Following Alexander’s release on Monday, Netanyahu sought to frame the situation in his favor, attributing his release to “Israel’s vigorous policy” and the “military pressure” exerted by the IOF in Gaza.

Hamas rebuked Netanyahu’s assertion that military pressure played a role in freeing US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander and attributed it instead to “serious communications”.

“The return of Edan Alexander is the result of serious communications with the US administration and the efforts of mediators, not a consequence of Israeli aggression or the illusion of military pressure,” the Palestinian Resistance group announced in a statement.

The group asserted that Netanyahu is misleading the Israelis and has failed to free the Israeli captives through aggression, noting that the return of captive Edan Alexander proves that negotiations and a prisoner exchange deal are the only way for the return of the Israeli captives and to end the war.

As a matter of fact, Hamas had offered to release Alexander, along with other captives, back in March during a temporary ceasefire. However, it was Netanyahu who, shortly after the offer, reneged on the ceasefire and resumed the aggression on Gaza.