#mostly peaceful

The New York Times coverage of the "Israel Day on Fifth" parade yesterday in New York City has a jarring sentence.

While the headline says, "Intense Security at Peaceful Parade for Israel in Manhattan," within the article it says, "The event was mostly peaceful and drew very few protesters."

"Mostly peaceful"? That phrase has become a euphemism to minimize the violence, intimidation and incitement seen at the thousands of anti-Israel demonstrations worldwide since October 7.

Yet there is a world of difference between anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrations. Even yesterday's rally attracted anti-Israel protesters with violent messages that the NYT doesn't want to cover, but the New York Post did, showing this protester with a "Kill Hostages Now" sign.

The Times minimized the peacefulness of the pro-Israel protest and ignored the hate from the anti-Israel demonstrators.

This is par for the course for the media.

The Black Lives Matters demonstrations in 2020  that often devolved into looting and burning areas of cities were also described  as "mostly peaceful" by the media, a characterization that was much derided. Yet we see the same misleading language being used in anti-Israel demonstrations.

Not to say it is strictly inaccurate. Most demonstrators are not violent, and most demonstrations are people marching without causing damage. But the word "mostly peaceful " is a meaningless term. By the expansive definition of "mostly peaceful" in the media, they could accurately say that war is "mostly peaceful" as well, since the amount of time soldiers are actually shooting is only a small percentage of their day. 

You hardly ever see the phrase "mostly peaceful" to describe right-leaning demonstrations. It is not a description - it is propaganda that indicates the the bias of the reporters and editors.

When the NYT uses the same phrase to describe pro-Israel and anti-Israel rallies, it is equating the two. And there is no equivalence.

The pro-Israel rally in New York, as with virtually all pro-Israel rallies, was entirely peaceful, not "mostly peaceful"

@armorer94