Rules and Guidelines for Westerners reporting on Israel

Updated October 2016
This rule book applies to all members of the Western media corps and is copyright of BBC, CNN, Sky News, the Sun, Guardian, Independent, Times.


Rule 1 (Rocket attacks against Israel)

The rule here is simple: Never report on any Hamas/Hizbollah rocket attacks against Israel (also note: there is no Israeli town called Sderot). There are only two exceptions to this rule:

1. If Israel eventually attempts to stop the rocket fire. In that case you can lead with a major story reporting that Israel has launched a massive attack against Palestinian civilians and you can include the following statement at the end of your 26 page report:

   "The Israelis claim that their attack was in response to home made rocket attacks from Gaza/Lebanon.”

2. If (as is very common) the Hamas rockets fall short (or explode before being launched) and hence cause casualties in Gaza, then you must write a major report with the headline "Israeli attack kills X civilians in Gaza"  (where the number X is determined by Rule 3 below).

Also note the following:

• If you are forced to mention Hamas and/or Hizbollah rockets (many of which are powerful long range missiles provided by Iran and Syria) you must refer to them using the terms: "home made",  "harmless", and "nothing more than fire crackers".
• You may also say things like "rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system" so that it is not even clear that rockets were fired or by whom. However, if you do mention the Iron Dome system ensure you say that it is an "American supplied system" even though it was actually funded, designed and built by Israel (Rafael Advanced Defence Systems)
• Never refer to the fact that the missiles cause deaths, injuries, and major damage in Israel and require several million people in Israel to stay in shelters for hours and days on end. In fact simply say "These so-called rockets have never caused any damage or injuries".

Rule 2 (War)

Every two years Hamas will launch a concentrated series of terrorist attacks and multiple rocket attacks (which, no matter how intense, must still not be reported) to draw Israel into a more robust response. In this case you must drop everything and use the following front-page template for the next 4 weeks.

Rule 3 (Arab casualties)

If there is any incident either in Israel or near its borders in which there are claims of Arab casualties you must write a report with the following headline:

“Israelis kill X Arab civilians including Y children”

For the numbers X and Y simply choose the highest figures from the following sources:

• Hamas
• Hezbollah
• The Palestinian Authority
• Islamic Jihad 
• Syrian State Television 
• Islamic State
• Al Jazeera or Press TV
• Any person within 20 miles of the incident who is wearing a kaffiya or a Burka.

You do not need to state the source of your claim. In the unlikely event that an Israeli spokesman claims either a different figure, that the 'victims' were armed terrorists, or that the incident simply did not happen you may end your report with the following:

“An Israeli spokesman claimed, without evidence, that they ‘acted in self-defence’.

Note that there are certain circumstances where Arab deaths from violence should not be reported at all. This is when Arabs themselves openly claim to be the killers. This applies, for example, in the following cases:

• Mass slaughter in fighting between different rival groups (Shia v Sunni, Hamas vs PA, Hamas vs Al Qaeda, PA vs Islamic Jihad etc)
• Where the victims are accused of being Israeli collaborators

If news of these killings does leak out into the Western media then simply write a brief statement including the words:

“The underlying cause of the violence was the oppressive Israeli occupation”

Any claims of deaths of Israelis during such incidents can be assumed to be false and hence ignored.


Rule 4 (Demographics)

Remember the following important demographics in any report, especially relating to casualties:

• Every Palestinian, especially every member of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, is a civilian. Those who produce suicide videos armed with machine guns vowing to kill as many Jews as possible are simply civilians forced by the Israeli occupation into becoming ‘militants’. 
• Any Palestinian under the age of 26 is a child.
• Any Palestinian under the age of 16 is a baby.
• Any Palestinian over the age of 32 is a grandfather/grandmother.
• Any Palestinian with any type of injury (including especially Hamas terrorists injured when launching attacks against Israel) is disabled.
• Every building in Gaza is either a Hospital, School, Mosque, or a house filled exclusively with women and children.
• There are no Israeli ‘civilians’ and certainly no Israeli ‘children’. They are just soldiers or settlers.
• Palestinian cities and towns are refugees camps.
• Israeli cities and towns are settlements.

Rule 5 (Arab Terrorist attacks)

If Israelis are killed in a terrorist attack, then treat this as an opportunity to take a vacation from reporting.

However, you should immediately return from your vacation if it is discovered that an Israeli family in Jerusalem is planning to build an extra bedroom to accommodate their new baby. In that case you should write a story with the headline

Israelis destroy chance of peace by announcing new West Bank settlement plans. 

At the end of the article you can use the following statement:

An Israeli government spokesman claimed that the settlement plans were in response to what they claimed was a ‘terrorist attack’. 

The only exceptions to this rule are as follows:

• If the terrorist was killed by Israeli security forces attempting to stop further slaughter then you may post a brief report with a very large headline saying "Palestinian murdered by Israeli security forces in occupied West Bank" (note that Tel Aviv can be considered part of the West Bank for such reporting). Under no circumstances must the actual terrorist attack or any of its victims be mentioned. You should, however, seek quotes and photos from the terrorists' family members showing him/her to be a loving person who supported Real Madrid.
• In the event of a suicide bombing you may interview the suicide bomber’s family and write a sympathetic piece stating how the bomber was driven to his/her actions by the Israeli occupation. Be careful to refer to the actual suicide bombing only in vague abstract terms, never mentioning the victims or their families.
• In the event of a particularly brutal terrorist attack, such as the slaughter of an entire family in their home in which a baby is decapitated, you can, if news of the attack reaches outside Israel, write a brief report with the following words:

“Although the Israelis claim that a terrorist attack occurred at X, it is more likely to have been the result of a disgruntled Thai worker, Jewish militants intent on sparking anti-Arab violence, or simply a family dispute. ”

Make sure you never mention the widespread celebrations that take place throughout the Palestinian territories. Instead you should quote a Palestinian Authority spokesman, who having just led the celebrations with proclamations such as "This will be the fate of all Jews" in Arabic tells you in English that the Palestinian Authority do not approve of the attack as it damages their cause, and that in any case such actions are the natural response to the Israeli occupation. Never mention the fact that in Palestinian suicide terrorist attacks, children are always specifically targeted. Just stress that such attacks are the inevitable result of the 'occupation' and 'poverty'.

Rule 6 (Jewish "Terrorist" attacks)  

• In contrast to the multiple Arab terrorist attacks that must not be reported, the extremely rare attacks that might be attributed to Jews must be given total and uninterrupted prominence, irrespective of any other news story (including the death of the Queen). 
• Any rules we may have about not using the word 'terrorist' and not using the religion of the person carrying out an attack can be ignored. The words "Jewish terrorist(s)" must appear in the headline and in the first sentence of every paragraph.
• No act of aggression should be considered too minor to report. This includes any acts against property (e.g. Hebrew graffiti sprayed on a mosque) and any physical contact by a Jew against any Arab. This is one area of reporting where you are allowed to listen to main stream Israeli reporters since they are especially eager to promote such stories widely.
• Even when there is absolutely no evidence (as in most cases) that the acts were carried out by Jews never suggest that there may be some doubt (again you can follow main stream Israeli reporters in this respect since they are world-leaders in self-flagellation). The fact that 99% of all reported acts of 'Jewish terrorism' turn out to have actually been committed by Arabs - either to incite violence or simply as part of local tribal feuds - must never be mentioned.  
• Do not under any circumstances mention the fact that (in total contrast to Palestinians and their leaders who celebrate every terrorist attack against Jews and honour the terrorists) Israelis universally condemn every rare attack carried out by Jews and severely punish those responsible (even before any trial).
• In addition to the story itself make sure that there are several editorials with headings such as "As a Jew I am ashamed of Israel", "If Israelis had any self-respect they would declare their state illegitimate and leave", "Proof that right wing Israelis seek the murder of all Arabs", "All Jews are responsible for this violence" "All Jews must now declare Israel a criminal state",  "Jewish terrorism inevitable result of Israeli apartheid"

Rule 7 (Terminology)

• The word ‘terrorist’ must never be used except when referring to Jews (as in Rule 5) or to any Jewish resident of the West Bank accused of acting provocatively in the presence of an Arab.  
• Any Arab in a combat zone is unarmed if they are not carrying a mobile missile launcher.  Any kind of guns, knives, swords, rocks, sticks or heavy metal items are, as a matter of course carried by unarmed Arabs since it is part of their cultural heritage.
• In any report you must insert the word “settler” after the word “Israeli”, unless it is known that they live outside of Central Tel Aviv, in which case you must add the word “fanatical” before “Israeli”. 
• When mentioning the name of any Israeli city or town (i.e. settlement) you must also include the words occupied territory.
• When mentioning any Israeli politician you must insert the word “hardline”, “extremist”, or “right-wing” before their name (if in doubt it is best to insert all three words).
• In any report about Palestinians use the following words: “authentic”, “welcoming”, “poor”.
• When mentioning any Palestinian politician you must insert the word “moderate” before their name, even if they are a leader of Hamas, Islamic Jihad or even Islamic State.
• Be especially careful when referring to Arab-Israelis. If an Arab-Israeli is killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack, or in a cross border shooting/rocket attack then you must refer to them as "Palestinian" (but be careful not to mention who caused the killing). In other circumstances you must refer to them as Israelis to ensure that nobody knows that there are Arab-Israeli citizens prominent and represented in all strata of Israeli society.

Rule 8 (Ethics and Morality)

• Israel is the only country in the world that must behave with absolutely perfect ethics and morality in every single aspect of public and private life. Hence, even the smallest deviation from perfection (such as if you can find an Arab worker earning less than a Jewish worker, or an Arab rioter being manhandled by a policeman) can be treated as a major news story.
• Arab countries, and especially the Palestinians, do not have to abide by any rules of morality or ethics at all. Hence, institutional antisemitism, violence, child abuse, racism, sexism, indoctrination of children, and the fact that 99.99% of the population dreams of massacring every Jew in the world are all examples of acceptable cultural behaviour and so must never be reported (doing so will result in you being disciplined for Islamaphobia or for being a Zionist stooge).

Rule 9 (Geography and Religion)

• Never look at a map of the whole Middle East. That way you will never have to reveal that Israel is less than the size of Wales or New Jersey surrounded by Muslim countries with a land mass over a thousand times as large.
• Although you can refer to the fact that 20% of Israel's population are Arabs you should only do so if you include the words "oppressed minority", "abused", "underclass", "impoverished".
• Never ask why over 50% of Israel’s Jewish population appears to have dark or even black skin. This might otherwise force you to reveal that not all Israeli Jews are of European/American origin and that they are actually native Middle Eastern and Ethiopian. 
• Never ask why there are 0 Jews living in Gaza, 0 Jews living in the PA occupied part of the "West Bank", 0 Jews living in Jordan, 0 Jews living in Syria (down from 16,000 in 1947), 0 Jews living in Iraq (down from 200,000 in 1940), 0 Jews living in Algeria (down from 150,000 in 1940), 0 Jews living in Libya (down from 50,000 in 1940), 0 Jews living in Lebanon (down from 10,000 in 1940),  30 Jews living in Egypt (down from 100,000 in 1940), 2000 Jews living in Morocco (down from 270,000 in 1940) , 0 Jews living in Saudi Arabia, etc. Do, however, say that Israel's policies make it an apartheid state committed to ethnic cleansing of all Arabs.
• Never ask why Israel is the only country in the Middle East whose Christian population is expanding.
• Never ask why Jerusalem is mentioned over 600 times in the Old Testament and 0 times in the Koran. Do, however, refer at least once in every report to the fact that Jerusalem is sacred to Muslims.

Rule 10 ('War crimes' and Tactics of War)

In simple terms military acts against terrorist groups and regimes which - when carried out by say American, European, Arab or even Russian forces would be cause for widespread celebration and international approval - are heinous war crimes if carried out by Israelis. This applies especially to:

• Targeted assassinations of terrorists: If carried out by Israel then, when reporting such crimes always invoke the spectre of a UN Security Council resolution when expressing your outrage and condemnation. Never mention that the assassination was carried out with such careful planning and skill that no civilian was harmed during the operation. Also never mention the direct threat the terrorist posed to Israel, nor the Israelis previously killed by the terrorist. In contrast, if carried out by others then praise the act and make sure you never mention the fact that, unlike assassinations carried out by Israelis, dozens of innocent civilians were also killed. Also never mention the fact that, unlike when Israel targets terrorists, the terrorist did not pose a direct threat to the country carrying out the attack.
• Blockading borders and bombing: If carried out by Israel, such as the blockading of Gaza's sea border to stop weapons deliveries, and the targeted bombing of its terror facilities then additionally stress that it must be the subject of multiple UN resolutions (ignore the fact that the blockade is legal etc), enquiries, and 'peace' flotillas. Never mention the tyrannical nature of the Hamas regime but focus only on the civilians living there (without mentioning that they support the regime and all rejoice in the deaths of Israeli citizens). You should also point out the 'hypocrisy of the West' in not imposing a no-fly zone on Israel. In contrast, when the blockade and bombing is carried out by nations from the other side of the world (as in, e.g. the 'West' against Libya in 2011) report that this is a highly commendable tactic (even though the country poses no threat to its neighbours). Stress the tyrannical nature of the regime being bombed (and do not remind readers that 6 months earlier you were telling them what a wonderful reformer their leader was) and never remind readers about the civilians living there (who mostly hate the regime)

Rule 11 (Using photographs)

• Any photo that you find of dead children in conflict from anywhere in the world must be posted immediately to twitter with the caption "New proof that Israel murders babies for fun". Photos of victims from the civil wars in Syria and Iraq are an especially good source. You do not have to worry even if they are over 10 years old. You may even use stills from horror films.
• Since Arabs/Muslims are always the victims and Israelis are always the aggressors  any photograph showing: Muslims attacking Jews, dead or injured Jews, damage to Israeli property from Muslim violence or rockets, can all be assumed to be faked and must never be shown. There is one exception to this rule and that is if the photograph does not obviously identify Muslims as the aggressors and Jews as the victim. In that case you are allowed to show the photograph with an appropriate caption making it clear that Jews are the aggressors and Muslims the victims.
• If at any time you cannot find relevant photos that can be used to portray Israel as aggressor and Arabs as victim, then simply use photoshop. You can either just doctor existing photos (update this is typical) or better still create your own scene using the ever obliging Palestinians. If you have no volunteers then simply find a pile of rubbish anyway and place a child's toy or doll on the top - this enables you to tweet a photo with the caption "all that remains of nursery destroyed by Israel". Other variations of this are to place a broken wheelchair on top and use the caption
  "all that remains of disabled people's home destroyed by Israel".

Rule 12 (Speaking to the natives)

Never interview an Israeli Jew (Israeli Arabs, especially those belonging to the Islamic Movement can be used instead).  The only exceptions to this rule are:

• Haaretz reporters
• Anti-Zionist academics, writers, politicians and lawyers 
• Amos Oz
• Any recent American Jewish immigrant living in the West Bank who uses Biblical quotations every other sentence.

To ensure this rule is adhered to it is safest to simply never speak to any Israeli Jew. Hence, make sure that whenever your are in Israel you either stay in the (Arab) American Colony Hotel Jerusalem or are hosted by a member of the Palestinian Authority or a person with a Haaretz press pass.


Rule 13 (Peace activists)

Any non-Arab in the region who is involved in violent anti-Israel activities is a peace activist. If such a person dies under any circumstances then you must state before any evidence is produced that this person “was killed by Israeli troops”. You must also put out an urgent call to all journalists in the world to write about nothing else for the next 7 days. Also contact every playwright to request a play dedicated to this martyr of the Palestinian cause.


Rule 14 (Arabic speeches)

Never use the services of an Arabic translator to find out what Arab leaders and clerics are telling their own people, as in “We will not rest until every Jew is dead”. This will ensure you do not have to waste time telling readers that they have directly contradicted what they told you in English (as in “We want peace with Israel”). It will also save you having to explain (or even report) that wild anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are believed by 99.999% of all Arabs. A simple rule of thumb is the following:

Any statement X made to you by an Arab in English is to be treated as unimpeachable truth. Any statement Y made by an Arab in Arabic that contradicts X, can be treated as false and hence ignored.

In the unlikely event that news of the translation gets into the main stream media you simply have to report that the translation is the work of MEMRI – a Zionist organisation dedicated to mis-translation to make Arabs look like anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynistic psychopaths. If, even after that, the translation is proved to be accurate then you can simply say that the statement was "theatrical rhetoric which was never supposed to be meant literally".

Rule 15 (Israeli evidence)

Be aware that in most major stories where you are able to cast Israel as the devil incarnate, the Israelis subsequently produce hard evidence (videos, documents, etc) that prove they were not guilty of the claims that had been made. In such cases there is no need to report this evidence. However, if you wish to remind readers of the original story you can include the following words at the end:

“Israel has claimed that some of these accusations are not true, but sources cast doubt on the authenticity of the Israeli evidence”.

Rule 16 (Peace Partners)

Under no circumstances ever mention that the Hamas Charter calls for the death of all Jews and cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for its inspiration. Similarly, never mention that, even after the Oslo accords, the Palestinian Authority has never renounced its own charter calling for the destruction of Israel and that every one of its leaders openly seeks the destruction of the Jewish State.

Rule 17 (Writing feature-length insight articles)

This is covered by Daniel Greenfield in "How to write about Israel"

Rule 18 (The Final Option)


If you have any doubt about the content of a story, or if you simply cannot be bothered to write anything yourself, then simply copy and paste whatever Al Jazeera or Press TV is saying on its website. Or just use the template provided here for every day that the current conflict lasts.

See also: 

• Guidelines for reporting attacks against ISIS and Hamas
• Simple questions about the Middle East that are never asked
• Saving the British media a lot of effort in their Gaza reporting 
• The maps that lie 
• Following up on the guidelines ...  
• Imagine if the Tunisian attack had been by a Palestinian on Tel Aviv beach .... 
• A dedication to the useful idiots at the BBC and CNN