Language Use about Gaza:
Ten Urgent Suggestions
When talking about mass violence, language matters. Word choices can be a matter of life and death. The language of war is frequently dehumanizing and euphemistic. This can make it easier to kill. We must use clear, accurate, honest language, describing flesh and bone impacts as directly as possible. We must use language foregrounding the humanity of all those harmed. We must resist simplistic, binary us vs. them, good vs. evil narratives circulated by governments and media outlets that humanize some while dehumanizing others.
The following are suggestions for writing and talking about violence in Gaza and Israel/Palestine. Find more suggestions at www.wordsaboutwar.org.
1. Don’t repeat talk of barbarism, savagery, or animals. It’s racist and Islamophobic.
2. Killed, murdered, or dead? Many have described Palestinians as dead while Israelis are killed, murdered, or massacred (“At least 70 killed in Israel; 198 dead in Gaza”). Dead and deaths erase causality and responsibility for killing. Remember, war is killing, war is murder.
3. Humanize equally: Don’t say “Hamas killed Israeli children and families” while “the Israeli military killed Palestinian civilians.”
4. Avoid passive verbs (were killed, were murdered). Say who is doing what, who is killing whom. “The Israeli military killed Palestinians… Hamas fighters killed Israelis….”
5. Don’t use sports metaphors. War is not sport. There are no “teams.” Sports metaphors hide war’s human damage.
6. Don’t use surgical or precision strikes. War is never surgical, hygienic, or clean.
7. Don’t use language implying collective responsibility and/or punishment.
8. Don’t conflate a government with a people. Don’t talk about Palestinians or Israelis as homogenous groups.
9. Don’t use terrorism, terrorists, war on terror. The terms are public relations. They have no clear definitions, have Islamophobic connotations, and do not get applied to terror inflicted by states. Name the actions of groups using violence. Use: acts of mass violence, attacks on civilians, and militants.
10. Is War accurate? War is an intense armed conflict between states or groups. Considerable evidence suggests the following terms apply (War on Gaza is another option):
Ethnic Cleansing: “ a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”
Genocide: “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Note: When referring to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, be explicit that the Israeli government bears responsibility for creating it through its genocide of Palestinians.
Some More Suggestions
Don’t say take(n) the lives. It’s wordy and indirect. Be clear: people are killed or murdered.
Don’t repeat government language (Israeli, Hamas, U.S., etc.). It is public relations/propaganda.
Don’t repeat talk of evil and good. The words are inflammatory and shut off efforts to understand. They are also obvious oversimplifications. No one is purely evil or purely good.
Use clear, accurate, honest language. Describe flesh-and-bone impacts as directly as possible.
Use language that foregrounds human lives and the humanity of all those harmed by war.
Don’t use innocent civilians: Just say civilians.
Don’t use euphemisms for military attacks like “Israel hammers Gaza.” Like unhelpful sports metaphors, such language makes it easier to ignore the human effects of war. Missiles, bombs, and bullets do far more damage than hammers.
Don’t use phrases like caught in the crossfire, which remove responsibility and imply an arbitrariness to killing that is anything but arbitrary.
Don’t use surgical strikes. War is never surgical, hygienic, or clean. Using such language hides the destruction caused by bombs, missiles, and other deadly weaponry. This and other medical metaphors dehumanizes other human beings, making it easier to kill.
Don’t use precision to describe bombing and missile attacks. The word is public relations to encourage people to think war can be “clean” and to avoid questions about the death, injury, and destruction caused by bombs, missiles, and other munitions. (Only use the word guided if there is clear evidence that munitions/bombs/missiles are actually guided.)
Don’t use casualty. This jargon hides what’s happening. Say people killed and wounded.
The following are suggestions for writing and talking about violence in Gaza and Israel/Palestine. Find more suggestions at www.wordsaboutwar.org.
1. Don’t repeat talk of barbarism, savagery, or animals. It’s racist and Islamophobic.
2. Killed, murdered, or dead? Many have described Palestinians as dead while Israelis are killed, murdered, or massacred (“At least 70 killed in Israel; 198 dead in Gaza”). Dead and deaths erase causality and responsibility for killing. Remember, war is killing, war is murder.
3. Humanize equally: Don’t say “Hamas killed Israeli children and families” while “the Israeli military killed Palestinian civilians.”
4. Avoid passive verbs (were killed, were murdered). Say who is doing what, who is killing whom. “The Israeli military killed Palestinians… Hamas fighters killed Israelis….”
5. Don’t use sports metaphors. War is not sport. There are no “teams.” Sports metaphors hide war’s human damage.
6. Don’t use surgical or precision strikes. War is never surgical, hygienic, or clean.
7. Don’t use language implying collective responsibility and/or punishment.
8. Don’t conflate a government with a people. Don’t talk about Palestinians or Israelis as homogenous groups.
9. Don’t use terrorism, terrorists, war on terror. The terms are public relations. They have no clear definitions, have Islamophobic connotations, and do not get applied to terror inflicted by states. Name the actions of groups using violence. Use: acts of mass violence, attacks on civilians, and militants.
10. Is War accurate? War is an intense armed conflict between states or groups. Considerable evidence suggests the following terms apply (War on Gaza is another option):
Ethnic Cleansing: “ a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”
Genocide: “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Note: When referring to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, be explicit that the Israeli government bears responsibility for creating it through its genocide of Palestinians.
Some More Suggestions
Don’t say take(n) the lives. It’s wordy and indirect. Be clear: people are killed or murdered.
Don’t repeat government language (Israeli, Hamas, U.S., etc.). It is public relations/propaganda.
Don’t repeat talk of evil and good. The words are inflammatory and shut off efforts to understand. They are also obvious oversimplifications. No one is purely evil or purely good.
Use clear, accurate, honest language. Describe flesh-and-bone impacts as directly as possible.
Use language that foregrounds human lives and the humanity of all those harmed by war.
Don’t use innocent civilians: Just say civilians.
Don’t use euphemisms for military attacks like “Israel hammers Gaza.” Like unhelpful sports metaphors, such language makes it easier to ignore the human effects of war. Missiles, bombs, and bullets do far more damage than hammers.
Don’t use phrases like caught in the crossfire, which remove responsibility and imply an arbitrariness to killing that is anything but arbitrary.
Don’t use surgical strikes. War is never surgical, hygienic, or clean. Using such language hides the destruction caused by bombs, missiles, and other deadly weaponry. This and other medical metaphors dehumanizes other human beings, making it easier to kill.
Don’t use precision to describe bombing and missile attacks. The word is public relations to encourage people to think war can be “clean” and to avoid questions about the death, injury, and destruction caused by bombs, missiles, and other munitions. (Only use the word guided if there is clear evidence that munitions/bombs/missiles are actually guided.)
Don’t use casualty. This jargon hides what’s happening. Say people killed and wounded.