The role of media has always been far more than reporting facts — it is a powerful tool that shapes and engineers public consciousness. In times of peace, it has the potential to foster understanding and dialogue. In times of conflict, however, its influence can be as devastating as any weapon or explosive, wielded to achieve military and political objectives.
When it comes to the Palestinian question, global media — often aligned, consciously or unconsciously, with the Zionist narrative — has played a devastating role. For decades, it has distorted the Palestinian story, framing Palestinians as aggressors, even “monsters,” while portraying the Israeli occupation as the perpetual victim. This imbalance has not only undermined the truth but has also dehumanized an entire people, silenced their suffering, and obscured crimes that demand accountability.
For nearly 22 months in row, the global discourse has been hijacked by a single word: hostages. Every statement, every headline, every diplomatic move seems to orbit this word — and the only interpretation of it is the Israeli hostages. Their plight is real and tragic, and no one denies that. But the way this narrative has been elevated into a sacred taboo — the ultimate justification for every brutal, devastating act committed by Israel and its backers, led by their patron, the United States — has come at an unbearable cost paid by the entire Palestinian people.
It has become as if the entire galaxy and the arc of human history begins and ends with the Israeli hostages. They are invoked to excuse bombings, sieges, mass starvation, and even the flattening of entire neighborhoods. This is indeed part of the tragedy — but there is another, equally dangerous part: the word “hostages” has been stripped of its meaning, applied only to Israelis, while thousands of Palestinian hostages languish in silence, erased from the world’s conscience.
Yes, there are thousands of Palestinian hostages. But because they are Palestinian, not Israeli; Arab, not the so-called “chosen people” — the world does not hear their stories. Their pain is invisible, their suffering is denied, their very existence ignored. Israeli hostages dominate global headlines, but Palestinian hostages are kept out of the frame, as if they do not exist.
Since June 1967, nearly three-quarters of a million Palestinians have been detained by Israel for one “crime”: resisting the occupation — a basic human right, a struggle for freedom that every nation would recognize as natural, legal, and legitimate. Everyone acknowledges that right — except Israel.
As of July 2025, there are 10,800 Palestinians in the Israeli prisons — a number that does not even include those held in Israeli military camps. Among them are 50 women, 450 children, and 3,629 administrative detainees — held indefinitely without charge or trial. In total, 87 children and 10 women are held under administrative detention. The toll is staggering: in just the past 22 months, 73 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody, with estimates suggesting that dozens more have perished behind bars without Israel ever acknowledging their deaths.
It is well-documented that Palestinian detainees are subjected to ill-treatment and physical abuse, starvation and deliberate deprivation, medical neglect that leads to preventable deaths, and even sexual assaults. A chilling video circulated on social media showed Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman military camp sexually assaulting and raping a Palestinian prisoner, leaving him with life-threatening and devastating injuries. Israel did not deny the crime — but also did nothing to hold the perpetrator accountable. Even more shocking, the perpetrator later appeared on social media boasting about what he had done, openly declaring how “proud” he was of his crime. To add insult to injury, the legitimacy and morality of such assaults were actually debated inside the Israeli Knesset, with many lawmakers openly justifying and even supporting this crime — as if the violation of Palestinians could be reduced to a mere matter of political debate.
Diseases like scabies have spread virally among Palestinian detainees — not by accident, but as part of an engineered Israeli policy to entrench misery and break the spirit of those imprisoned. Hunger, humiliation, and illness are not incidental; they are deliberately inflicted tools of control.
This silence is deafening. The word “hostages” has been turned into an exclusive club — reserved only for Israelis. When the world speaks of “hostages,” it erases the Palestinian men, women, and children who are also hostages: not just of prisons, but of an entire system of oppression.
The tragedy is not only the horror Palestinians endure — it is the total absence of their narrative from the conversation. Hostages should mean all hostages. Justice should mean all people. Humanity cannot be selective — but right now, it is. The world’s focus on Israeli hostages has been weaponized, turned into an “open sesame” for every act of devastation, every bomb dropped, every child starved in Gaza.
President Mahmoud Abbas has been unequivocal from the very beginning on the issue of hostages, and our official position has been absolutely clear. No one should ever be taken hostage — and since this has already happened, those held must be returned to their families without a single minute more in captivity.
The very same principles that apply to Israeli hostages must also apply to the thousands of Palestinian hostages. We must all be treated with the same standards of humanity, and every human life must carry the same worth. No one should ever be treated as subhuman. No one should ever be spoken of as less equal than another. And no one should believe that their life, race, ethnicity, or religion is of greater value than anyone else’s.
Palestinian prisoners have always been a central issue in Palestinian society, and we have always — and will continue to — give them the respect and recognition they fully deserve, even if Israel and its supporters choose to label them as “terrorists.” We must remember: Israel is not the first occupying power to brand the resistance of an occupied people as “terrorism.” A few decades ago, Indian revolutionaries who fought for their country’s freedom were also labeled “terrorists,” “anarchists,” “troublemakers,” and many other false and demeaning adjectives by the colonial power of that time.
Every year, on April 17, Palestinian society commemorates Palestinian Prisoners’ Day — a solemn reminder of the sacrifices made by those imprisoned for their struggle for freedom. And now, August 3 has been declared a day for the …
Until the Palestinian detainees are also seen, heard, and acknowledged, the global discourse will remain distorted and complicit in the suffering of millions.
(Abdullah Abu Shawesh is the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to the Republic of India)
