Gaza Genocide, Disinformation, and the Death of Truth

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with  Dr. Assal Rad and Professor Marc Owen Jones -- two of the most prominent voices and most astute analysts of the role that media and disinformation have played post Oct 7, 2023 -- and continue to play through the present day, in manufacturing consent for Israel’s war on Gaza as well as its wider military campaigns and territorial expansion in Lebanon and Syria. The conversation centered on Dr. Rad's article, "How Western Media Has Manufactured Consent for Atrocities, From Iraq to Gaza" ( published 3/4/25); and Professor Jones's peer-reviewed analysis in Third World Quarterly, "Evidencing alethocide: Israel’s war on truth in Gaza" (published 3/1/25).

[wirlisSorensen]

Excellent, informative interview. Thanks so much, all three of you.

[lemrabottcheikhboukhari]

Thank you all of you standing with humanity and justice against genocide

[observer]

A brilliant and informative conversation among three brilliant, honest and perceptive people. Thank you, I wish all Americans would take the time to listen to the truthful comments of these people.

[fashioncitymetaverse]

Thank you for caring about Humanity 🙏 free Palestine 🇵🇸

[gs]

Excellent discussion! Very much enjoyed this panel

[BronwynReiss]

Thank you so much for this interesting informative discussion
❤love from me in Australia

[Zoya-dpkq]

Brilliant guests in Assal and Marc! Thank you for an enlightening discussion.

[mariatsappou]

Excellent analysis and discussion.
♥️🇯🇴♥️🇯🇴♥️🇯🇴♥️🇯🇴♥️

[lcbrittain]

That has been so interesting and somehow different, more lucid and more hopeful than some of the pro-Palestinian websites I have been following which have left me feeling helpless and desperate. Thank you, Assal and Marc. Although these are aspects of media I have thought about during the last year and a half almost, you have highlighted and explained beautifully and eloquently how to go on. Marc, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of despair (which is hopelessness). I, too, am something of a pessimist, but we have to take our example from the Palestinians themselves, whose endurance of so many countless and unspeakable atrocities still holds fast. Thank you, too, Lara, for your helpful questions and personal involvement in this discussions. Those questions and admitted biases were so helpful. I am heartbroken at the chaos and utter inhumanity of what is unfolding in the Middle East, once such a cradle of tolerance of all religions. And I am ashamed to have been born into a society that willfully turns away from humanity and the values of compassion, preferring instead to elevate its own interests and material aggrandisment.

[SteStarI]

Thank you! I will be sharing everywhere!

[FredHosea]

Slight twist on Alethea -- the goddess who personified Truth. Our common understanding of "truth" is simply "something that is true, a fact." However, the Greek word conveys a different meaning. Aletheia translates to "to unforget, to unconceal." In contrast, Letheia means "to forget, to conceal." When the prefix "a" is added to the beginning of the word, the meaning shifts to signify the opposite, similar to how the English prefix "un" changes the meaning of a word, such as "do" and "undo." In Greek mythology, the River Lethe is associated with forgetfulness and oblivion. The dead would drink from its waters to forget their past lives before reincarnation. In contrast, Aletheia represents the disclosure or unconcealment of truth in this life, emphasizing the idea of remembering or not forgetting things that one knew in past lives.

[slidinghills]

Thank you for sharing this conversation.

[neilsunn]

Thank you for exposing myth that most westerners hold that the big media is truthful and impartial.

[nasimbanusaiyed]

Thank u. Appreciate ur work.❤❤ Free free 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[MYTAccount]

*Great topic and amazing analysis to get the truth out!*
🍉🇵🇸💯✌

[asyamans]

58:44 yep, we'll keep resisting and keep the struggle in support of humanity

[nazmimurtezai]

Thank you all of you ❤
Long Live Palestine ❤❤

[Badgerbeard]

Lara Friedman - Glad to have found you. I saw you with the other Owen Jones. Thank you for introducing me to Dr. Assal Rad and Professor Marc Owen Jones.

[BringYaTigrinya]

A good entry point for anyone still skeptical of the NYT slant is Marc Tracy's "transcript" of Basel Adra's Oscar acceptance speech. Labeled as such, the reader assumes that the printed words are the exact content of the speech; literally, word for word.

Spoiler alert:

Tracy includes the entire speech, minus the words 'settler' and 'Israeli occupation.'

It's repulsive. I emailed Tracy, and of course didn't hear back.

[jackklugman]

Seen Lara elsewhere.. maybe Katie Halper .. she’s excellent