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Media Coverage of Palestinian Solidarity in Germany A Critical Discourse Analysis of German News Media Portrayal of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in Germany in the Aftermath of October 7th

Dröscher, Anja Sophie LU (2024) SGED10 20241
Human Geography
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most globally debated conflicts of our time. In the aftermath of October 7th and in light of the severity of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza there has been a growing internationalization of the Palestinian cause. In Germany, this resulted in a clash between Palestinian activism among civil society and a political elite that pledged unwavering solidarity with Israel. Through a corpus-based critical discourse analysis of the news media portrayal of the discourse in Germany around the Israel-Palestine conflict, this paper scrutinizes how consensus is articulated within the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. This includes how legitimacy is attributed to civil society movements within the protest... (More)
The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most globally debated conflicts of our time. In the aftermath of October 7th and in light of the severity of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza there has been a growing internationalization of the Palestinian cause. In Germany, this resulted in a clash between Palestinian activism among civil society and a political elite that pledged unwavering solidarity with Israel. Through a corpus-based critical discourse analysis of the news media portrayal of the discourse in Germany around the Israel-Palestine conflict, this paper scrutinizes how consensus is articulated within the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. This includes how legitimacy is attributed to civil society movements within the protest paradigm. The context to the motives behind protests was framed in a way that limited the context to October 7th and an Israeli counterattack. Protest groups were framed as minority groups from leftist and migrant circles, that the mainstream public opinion opposes. Forms of Islamophobia, or anti-Muslim racism are mostly not recognized to be part of the discourse or Palestinian solidarity is even dismissed in an openly Islamophobic way. Palestinian activism was scrutinized based on antisemitic undertones in the majority of articles. Antisemitism, in any form, should not be dismissed, but the invocation of antisemitism against the Palestinian solidarity movement derails and polarizes the conversation. (Less)
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author
Dröscher, Anja Sophie LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGED10 20241
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Israel-Palestine conflict, protest paradigm, ideology of consensus, antisemitism, Islamophobia, critical discourse analysis
language
English
id
9158908
date added to LUP
2024-06-12 15:33:17
date last changed
2024-06-12 15:33:17
@misc{9158908,
  abstract     = {{The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most globally debated conflicts of our time. In the aftermath of October 7th and in light of the severity of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza there has been a growing internationalization of the Palestinian cause. In Germany, this resulted in a clash between Palestinian activism among civil society and a political elite that pledged unwavering solidarity with Israel. Through a corpus-based critical discourse analysis of the news media portrayal of the discourse in Germany around the Israel-Palestine conflict, this paper scrutinizes how consensus is articulated within the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. This includes how legitimacy is attributed to civil society movements within the protest paradigm. The context to the motives behind protests was framed in a way that limited the context to October 7th and an Israeli counterattack. Protest groups were framed as minority groups from leftist and migrant circles, that the mainstream public opinion opposes. Forms of Islamophobia, or anti-Muslim racism are mostly not recognized to be part of the discourse or Palestinian solidarity is even dismissed in an openly Islamophobic way. Palestinian activism was scrutinized based on antisemitic undertones in the majority of articles. Antisemitism, in any form, should not be dismissed, but the invocation of antisemitism against the Palestinian solidarity movement derails and polarizes the conversation.}},
  author       = {{Dröscher, Anja Sophie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Media Coverage of Palestinian Solidarity in Germany A Critical Discourse Analysis of German News Media Portrayal of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in Germany in the Aftermath of October 7th}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}