Don’t Be Distracted: Gaza Is Being Erased While the Media Fears Iran

As Western media obsesses over Israel’s escalating war with Iran—recycling tired tropes of Israeli victimhood—Israel is expanding its genocide in Gaza.

Images of rocket fire over Tel Aviv and speeches about “unconditional surrender” flood Western media—while in Gaza, Palestinians starve under bombs with scarcely a mention. Israel killed 144 Palestinians and wounded 560 in the last 24 hours alone. These mass-casualty events have become routine—yet major news outlets barely register them, instead framing Israel as the victim of an Iranian onslaught.

Photo showing how Israel erased Rafah from the map.

It is a grotesque inversion. As Iran exchanges missiles with Israel, Israeli tanks and aircraft continue pounding Gaza’s civilians. In Rafah, Israeli fire killed 50 people near an aid distribution point in one day, wounding 200. This is not a two-sided war—it is an ongoing Israeli siege and massacre of an occupied population, largely erased from media coverage.

In the West Bank, Israel has sealed off entire communities. More than 3 million Palestinians now live under sudden siege. Roughly 943 have been killed there since October 2023, many during raids. Ambulances are delayed for hours, and Israeli forces use live fire on anyone who approaches. Human rights groups warn that settlement expansion and forced evacuations amount to “ethnic cleansing.”

Under cover of war with Iran, Israel is moving to crush Palestinian life on every front.

Gaza’s Genocide Disguised as Self-Defense

Let’s be clear: Israel didn’t bomb Iran to “protect itself”—it did so to distract the world from Gaza. Crimes the International Court of Justice calls “plausibly genocidal” continue unabated while the world looks away.

And yet, the dominant narrative still casts Iran as the aggressor—even as Israel:

• Continues bombing Gaza and striking inside Iran

• Raids cities and refugee camps in the West Bank

• Launches attacks in southern Lebanon and Syria

Yet somehow, it’s Iran that is accused of destabilizing the region.

Repackaging the WMD Playbook

In Washington and London, familiar lies resurface: pundits warn Iran is “weeks away” from building a nuclear bomb—repeating claims dating back to the 1990s.

The facts tell a different story. Even CNN put together a compilation.

Before Trump torched the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. intelligence assessed that Iran was not pursuing a bomb. The IAEA has repeatedly confirmed it found no “systematic effort” to develop nuclear weapons. But this doesn’t matter to the war machine. Anonymous Israeli military sources leak “classified” warnings, Western media amplify them uncritically—and suddenly the drums of war beat louder.

On CNN, Grossi said what he told us before – the agency has no evidence Iran is racing for a bomb. But that inconvenient truth did not stop hawks from using propaganda leaks (even citing Israeli military sources) to claim Iran was days away from a bomb.

It’s the same playbook used to sell the Iraq War. Only this time, the goal isn’t Baghdad, it’s Tehran.

The White House quietly distributed emails—shown below—to select influencers and Republican lawmakers, arming them with pre-packaged talking points to justify U.S. intervention in Iran. It’s not just war—they’re selling it, one inbox at a time.

Iran hasn’t started a war in over 200 years. Israel, by contrast, has bombed or invaded nearly all of its neighbors—Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan—and continues to occupy Palestinian territory, where 700,000 Israeli settlers live illegally among 2.7 million Palestinians.

Amid all this, Trump calls for Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warns that any U.S. escalation will cause “irreparable damage.” As of now, 24 Israelis are dead and over 500 wounded, yet still the media focus remains on Israel’s “right to self-defense.”

Why The Rush To Escalate?

Sometimes war criminals say the quiet part out loud. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, now wanted by the International Criminal Court, recently declared: We believe the U.S. has an obligation to intervene because Iran is so rich in oil and gas.

While Gallant pleads for war, Israeli forces bomb starving civilians in Gaza waiting for food. On Salah al-Deen Street, at least 11 people were killed doing just that. It happens every day. And yet, the media remain fixated on Iran.

Even Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz implied that Iran could avoid U.S. strikes by simply “returning to the negotiating table”—ignoring the fact that diplomacy was sabotaged by Israel’s own aggression.

Meanwhile, the Global South isn’t buying the spin. Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro called on China, Russia, Turkey, and others to oppose Israeli aggression, warning that escalation could devastate oil markets and destabilize global trade. For much of the world, this isn’t about an “Iranian threat”, it’s about a Western smokescreen.

In the U.S., alarm is growing behind closed doors. The Wall Street Journal reports Iran has launched over 370 missiles and hundreds of drones. Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome is reportedly overwhelmed. U.S. officials warn missile interceptors may run out within 10–12 days. Arrow batteries are already near depletion. Far from a show of dominance, Israel’s war footing reveals its dependency, and its desperation for American military backup.

How U.S. Power Sustains the Carnage

Let’s not pretend the U.S. is a neutral actor. It greenlit Israel’s initial strike on Iran, rushed weapons to Israel, and pledged to intercept Iranian retaliation. Now, it's edging toward direct war.

Congressman Thomas Massie and 14 progressive Democrats introduced a War Powers Resolution to block unauthorized U.S. military involvement. Senator Tim Kaine filed a parallel bill in the Senate.

But behind the scenes, the Pentagon is already resupplying Israel’s missile systems and deploying troops to the region.

Public support is crumbling. A new YouGov poll shows 60% of Americans oppose U.S. involvement; only 16% support it. And yet, the media still air war hawks unchallenged, and Gaza is still buried beneath the noise.

On the ground, Israel continues bombing Lebanon and Syria, bulldozing homes in the West Bank, and ambushing civilians trying to access food aid in Gaza. Footage of Palestinians sprinting through sniper fire to grab sacks of flour may go viral, but it’s dismissed by Western media as “propaganda.”

This is not unfamiliar. Every time Israel bombs Gaza or hints at re-occupation, the media follows a script—amplify Israeli talking points, downplay Palestinian suffering, center Western fears of “instability.”

Even Iran’s brief internet blackout is spun as aggression, not defense. Every move is cast as a threat to justify escalation, just as it was in Iraq.

This week, Senator Ted Cruz called for “obliterating” Iran, then admitted, during a segment with Tucker Carlson, that he didn’t even know Iran’s population. Carlson replied flatly: “92 million. How could you not know that?”

These are the people making decisions about war.

Lies Don’t Stay Hidden Forever

This isn’t just a war of weapons, it’s a war of narratives. And right now, the narrative is being hijacked.

Every explosion over Tel Aviv steals attention from Gaza. Every pundit fixated on Iran is a headline not about Palestinians who are being starved and bombed and erased in Gaza.

The link between Gaza and the Iran escalation isn’t incidental, it’s strategic. Netanyahu’s surprise strike wasn’t about defense. It was about distraction. And in that distraction, a genocide continues.

If Iraq taught us anything, it’s that lies don’t stay hidden forever. But the longer they live, the more they kill.

So the next time you scroll past missile trails and mushroom clouds, remember: in Gaza, entire families are being starved, shelled, and erased. They are not numbers. They are names, voices, dreams.

If we allow Gaza to disappear from our conscience, we will not find peace—only more grief, spreading in ever-widening circles.