As the 24-hour media cycle churns on, the humanitarian crisis along the East Coast of the United States persists. Two consecutive hurricanes have displaced tens of thousands, with nearly half a million residents still without power five days after Hurricane Milton made landfall.
Yet the media has shifted its focus, fixating on the pre-election tours of presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, as well as the recent Hezbollah attack on an IDF dining facility. The attack, which occurred over the weekend, killed four soldiers and wounded 60 others.
Sky News initially ran the story with the headline, “Israel names teenage soldiers killed in Hezbollah drone attack – as ‘23 die’ in Gaza school strike.” However, the outlet has since revised the headline, removing the word “teenage.”
The infantilization of armed combatants in war, coupled with the blatant disregard for the identity—and therefore the protected status—of 23 children killed in an IAF strike on a school, exemplifies the legacy media’s coverage of this conflict. This pattern reflects an ongoing effort to protect Israel, shield Western audiences from its actions, and neglect the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Now, the same media dismisses the daily struggles of U.S. citizens enduring the aftermath of a natural disaster.
The U.S. legislature approved another $8.7 billion in military assistance to Israel on the eve of two large-scale hurricanes. Although domestic and foreign appropriations operate on separate tracks, many Americans are questioning the rationale behind consistently sending foreign aid while infrastructure crumbles at home.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, it is noteworthy that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has rejected $11 billion in federal funding over the past few years. The Florida Policy Institute states:
By continuing to opt out of federal funding for essential programs for Florida families, like health coverage, disability services, mental health funding, climate resiliency programs, and more, the state not only continually sends billions of our tax dollars to other states but also prevents improvements in quality of life for thousands of Floridians.”
It is notable that Governor Ron DeSantis sent weapons assistance to Israel last year, an action that is not illegal for a U.S. governor.
While the media’s disregard for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza is expected, the lack of reporting on domestic hardship—especially in a conservative stronghold like Florida—marks a shift. Will residents begin to connect Congress’s unwavering support for Israel, including the recent authorization of a billion-dollar THAAD battery to protect its airspace, to their own government’s neglect? DeSantis continually advocates for funding the war in Gaza, holds state cabinet meetings in Israel to promote investment, and now refuses federal funds for infrastructure and disaster relief.
It seems unlikely that this mismanaged disaster will serve as a wake-up call for many Americans, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying. Tonight on *State of Play*, we are joined by Hassan Shibly, the founder and lead attorney of Muslim Legal in Florida and a prominent civil rights activist.
Greg Stoker is a former US Army Ranger with a human intelligence collection and analysis background. After serving four combat deployments in Afghanistan, he studied anthropology and International Relations at Columbia University. He is currently a military and geopolitical analyst and a social media “influencer,” though he hates the term.
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