Abstract: This study examines how the political environment has shaped Israeli media coverage of the war on Gaza, addressing the following key question: What impact did the political context that emerged after 7 October 2023 have on the media treatment of the war in Gaza within Israeli media? And how was the coverage of Israeli news outlets influenced by this environment during the war? It adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to assess the effects of this political context on Israeli media representations of the war. It also draws on critical discourse analysis to examine the lexical and semantic structures of Israeli media discourse, with the aim of identifying the meanings embedded in it and the political contexts that shape it. The study is based on a sample of 22 media items published on the websites of Yedioth Ahronoth, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz in 2025. The findings show that Israeli media operate within a discursive framework largely shaped by the Israeli government and military, in addition to direct military censorship over security and political issues. The media also tend to align with prevailing trends of extremism, incitement and racism in Israeli society, both at the official and popular levels, towards Palestinians, with the notable exception of Haaretz, which adopted an oppositional stance. The study further concludes that Israeli media align with government discourse in supporting what it describes as “ genocide ” , through the dissemination of related news coverage. The media also reproduce official narratives of condemnation and denunciation issued by the Israeli government in response to global protests against the genocide in Gaza, as well as to the recognition of a Palestinian state by Israel’s allied governments. Keywords: Political Environment of the Media, Media Treatment, Israeli Media, War on Gaza.
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