New Delhi: A group of senior Indian journalists who visited Israel last week have found themselves at the receiving end of a coordinated wave of online trolling and biased opinion write ups by Saudi-based Arab News, India based News laundry & Maktoob media, & Pakistan based dawn news.
The journalists were invited by the Israeli govt last week to meet with PM Netanyahu, and during the meeting they held talks about the Gaza situation and India-Israel ties. India, Israel ties have been upbeat especially in areas like defence, security, agriculture.
The country has emerged as a strong supporter of India on the issue of Pakistan supporting terrorism in the absence of such vocal voices from several countries in the region. Israel ambassador to India Reuven Azar was the first ambassador to support India’s right to defend after the April terror attack, when no other ambassador from the region spoke on the issue.
However, soon after the trip last week, Arab News’s Sanjay Kumar published a piece that is seen as a “hit job” with several attendees saying the outlet’s reporter failed to meet basic journalistic standards, and not reaching out to many for comments. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper wrote an edit on the visit, but failed to mention that Pakistani journalists had also visited Israel earlier this year despite no ties between the 2 countries. In a scathing editorial, the Dawn points to India Israel Nexus & how it impacts Pakistan.
News Laundry’s Pratyush Deep wrote a heavily opinionated write up that the visit, “barely raised the tough questions”. The media criticism was accompanied by a surge of vitriolic trolling on social media, much of it from accounts aligned with left-wing elements. Write-ups by News Laundry’s Deep, Arab News reporter Kumar led to death threats by many of the journalists who did not wish to be identified.
Senior Journalist Ravinder Singh Robin condemned the attacks, stating, “It’s uncalled for to target journalists for simply doing their jobs. Ideologically motivated lobbies producing slanted write-ups which is shameful.”
Another journalist from the print industry, Yeshi Seli, also expressed her concern over the attack. “As journalists, we need to be objective and open to hearing all narratives. Being judged or trolled based on the places we visit or the leaders we meet defies the very concept of journalism.”
During the visit, Netanyahu extensively talked about Israel’s support for India during “Operation Sindoor” — the cross-border strikes on Pakistan-based terror camps following the Pahalgam terror attack. The delegation included prominent names from across India’s media spectrum: Vishnu Som (NDTV), Zakka Jacob (CNN IBN), Sidhant Sibal (WION), Manash Pratim Bhuyan (Press Trust of India), Aditya Raj Kaul (formerly TV9), Shubhajit Roy (Indian Express), and Abhishek Kapoor (Republic TV). Their coverage, reviewed by us, reflected perspectives from both sides of the Israel–Gaza conflict.
In the words of one attendee, the uproar over the trip is symptomatic of a troubling trend: journalists being attacked not for what they report, but for simply engaging with diverse sources — a practice fundamental to their profession