The sight was almost too terrifying to bear. In late May, tens of thousands of Jewish extremists, many of them young, marching through Jerusalem’s Old City during the yearly “Flag March,” chanting racist slogans and attacking Palestinian onlookers. The day ended with dozens of right wingers attacking Palestinians in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah as the Israeli police stood by and did nothing.

The march was a boiling point, but even on “ordinary” days, the violence meted out against Palestinians is inescapable. In Jerusalem, the city I call home, Palestinians routinely face police violence and dispossession at the hands of state-backed settler organizations. In Masafer Yatta, over 1,000 residents are under threat of imminent forced expulsion. Inside Israel, Palestinian members of Knesset are regularly deemed terror supporters simply for demanding equality and an end to the occupation.

Yet despite the blatant violations of human rights, media outlets around the world continue to buy into Israel’s distortions, often portraying the reality on the ground as a struggle between two equally powerful entities, rather than as a nuclear-armed state against a population that is criminalized for even the smallest acts of protest and resistance. President Biden, who is visiting Israel this week, will see and say very little about this reality.

We at +972 are here to change that. You know we are committed to holding Israel to account for its apartheid regime, and the U.S. for its complicity in it. As Biden visits my city and the world’s attention is once again upon our region, you can help us deliver that message. Join +972 as a member today so we can speak truth to power.

Israel has a vested interest in entrenching a system of subjugation while creating a smokescreen for its policies. According to the Israeli establishment, up is down, apartheid is democracy, and Palestinian rights are antisemitism incarnate. The media in Israel has long abdicated its duty to fight against these distortions, and unfortunately, few international outlets are doing their job in challenging them.

When +972 Magazine was founded in 2010, it sought to expose the gap between the official Israeli narrative and the reality on the ground. With our professional reporting and analysis by Palestinian and Israeli journalists on the ground, we have been able to push back and change the conversation, cut right through the fake news, and demand accountability.

Doing this kind of work means paying our writers, editors, and translators, while ensuring our reporting spreads far and wide. We don’t do ads or paywalls, so we rely on the support of readers like you to continue powering our journalism. Join us by becoming a member of +972 today!

In struggle,
Orly Noy
+972 contributor