Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, in partnership with the Department of Language, Culture and Communication at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, is organising an academic conference titled “International Media and the War on Gaza: Modalities of Discourse and the Clash of Narratives.” The event will take place on 29-30 November 2025, in Doha.
The conference will examine media discourse strategies in the coverage of the war on Gaza, as well as the markers that reveal how international media producers frame both the Palestinian and Israeli perspectives and the overall trajectory of the war. It also aims to highlight the role of Israeli media and international institutions and networks in fuelling the genocide in Gaza, and to shed light on propaganda mechanisms used to manipulate global public opinion and distort facts.
The narratives produced by Israeli media and some Western media have reflected the dimensions of the conflict, shaped by the influence of media institutions, networks and their owners towards the parties involved in the war. As a result, most Western media, and even some Arab media, promoted, especially in the early months of the war, the Israeli narrative and its false reports about “burning children” and “raping Israeli women” during the Hamas attack on settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip. These outlets justified “Israel’s right to self-defence” and legitimised the war against what they called “Hamas’s terrorism”.
In this context, the propaganda dimension and disinformation in media discourse stand out, competing with the Palestinian narrative, pointing to the “power of narrative” in constructing meaning, shaping reality and guiding public opinion according to the strength of the medium and its political and ideological orientations.
Promo Video
The conference will address multiple issues related to discourse strategies and narrative forms in international media coverage of the war on Gaza, as well as various news models used to report the events of 7 October2023. Its main objectives include:
- Identifying the modalities of discourse and narrative patterns produced by Israeli and international media about the Palestinian and Israeli selves and the trajectories of the war on Gaza
- Highlighting forms of Israeli and Western propaganda manipulating international public opinion
- Identifying the structure of hate speech in Israeli and international media
- Exposing the role of Israeli media, press institutions and international networks in fuelling genocide in Gaza
- Shedding light on the militarisation of social media networks and the incitement of genocidal acts
- Comparing genocide media in contemporary experiences (e.g. Rwanda, Cambodia) with genocide media in the war on Gaza
See the full conference program for more details.