The appalling rape and murder of Israeli Arab student Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne last week has made news in both Australian and Israeli media.
Maasarwe was an Israeli citizen, lived in the town of Baqa al-Gharbiya in northern Israel and was in Australia on an Israeli passport.
It’s no secret that Israel’s Arab citizens self-identify in different ways. Some have no problem with their Israeli identities. Others see themselves as Palestinian above all else despite their citizenship. That’s their prerogative and, irrespective of how they relate to the Israeli state, Israel will still treat them as citizens deserving of the same legal rights afforded to all Israelis.
But this is anathema to Israel haters whose narrative falsely portrays Israel as an apartheid state. Just imagine if Israel had washed its hands of any responsibility for this poor young woman simply because she was an Arab. The world would, quite rightly, be hauling Israel over the coals for an act of blatant discrimination. But Israel’s embassy in Australia has taken responsibility for repatriating Maasarwe’s body and the embassy’s spokesperson, herself a member of Israel’s Druze minority, issued this press release:
Official statement of the Embassy of Israel concerning the death of Israeli citizen, Aiia Maasarwe. pic.twitter.com/pryKW9QD6u
— Eman Hasisi Amasha – אימאן – ايمان (@AmashaEman) January 17, 2019
But in a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t, The Guardian has published an opinion piece politicizing Maasarwe’s death on the basis of her ethnicity.
Sydney-based Jennine Khalik, a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, complains that the media have referred to Maasarwe as an Israeli or Arab-Israeli. According to Khalik:
The preferred terms include Palestinian citizen of Israel or Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. Arab-Israeli is a vague and politically loaded descriptor, and the very exclusion of the word Palestinian is a political statement which erases Palestinians.
It could well be argued that any term used is a politically loaded descriptor. In this case, it’s all about Khalik inserting her own personal identity into the story as someone who herself identifies as a Palestinian in her article and chooses which politically loaded descriptor she prefers. This isn’t about factual reporting but her own very personal opinions.
It’s hardly surprising that media have been inconsistent with their terminology given the multiple identities in play. So, for example, one story in The Age, refers to Maasarwe as a “Palestinian citizen of Israel” in the main body of the article while a photo caption says “Arab-Israeli.” SBS News refers to her as a “Palestinian Arab with Israeli citizenship, while The Australian uses “Arab-Israeli.” CNN, meanwhile calls her a “Palestinian from a predominantly Arab city in Israel.”
The point is that there is no real consistency and it is probably asking too much of journalists unfamiliar with the complexities of Maasarwe’s identity to fully understand the issue. That many media outlets chose to highlight her civic identity rather than her ethnicity or religion is quite normal particularly as these most likely had no direct bearing on the crime that took place.
Conflating Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the media also has the effect of making readers believe that any and every story is one of conflict or “occupation.” Perhaps this is precisely what Khalik wanted in the cause of Palestinian nationalism.
Most recently, SBS News reported:
The family has contacted media organisations asking for the spelling of the name to be changed to Aya, instead of Aiia – which police had been using based on her passport information – to reflect their wish for her to be identified as Palestinian.
All indications are Maasarwe was murdered not for being an Israeli, an Arab, Palestinian or anything other than being a woman targeted in a seemingly random and despicable act of violence.
Yes, Maasarwe should be humanized and if the family wish to identify as Palestinian above all else, that is their right. But Khalik and The Guardian should not be politicizing the death of young woman in pursuit of their own anti-Israel agendas. That Israel has treated Aiia Maasarwe as an Israeli is exactly what scares the likes of Khalik because it proves the opposite of their anti-Israel narrative.
