Gulf media do not merely report on Iran; by constantly amplifying the Iranian threat, they shift the Arab gaze from the wound of Palestine to a new form of security anxiety.

What is the main threat in the Middle East: the occupation of Palestine or Iran? The answer to this question is not determined only in the arena of politics; the media also play a role in constructing it. Palestine remains the region’s open moral wound, yet part of the Gulf media, by constantly highlighting Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear program, and the military option, is shifting the Arab gaze away from Israeli occupation and war toward a new security anxiety.

Criticising Iran is legitimate, but when Iran is turned into a substitute enemy, the danger is that Palestine will be pushed back not only from the headlines, but from the center of the region’s political conscience.

Criticising Iran is legitimate, but when Iran is turned into a substitute enemy, the danger is that Palestine will be pushed back not only from the headlines, but from the center of the region’s political conscience.

Palestine is still not merely a political crisis; it is the central moral wound of the Middle East. Occupation, war, blockade, and Israel’s immunity from accountability have turned the Palestinian question into a measure by which justice in the region is judged. Even in international reports, the issues of accountability, justice, and widespread violations of humanitarian law in the occupied territories remain alive and unresolved. A report published within the framework of the United Nations in April 2026 also emphasised the continued serious violations of humanitarian law in Gaza and the need for accountability. For this reason, when the media, instead of focusing on this wound, turn Iran into the center of daily anxiety for the Arab audience, we are not facing a simple shift in news coverage; we are witnessing the gradual transformation of the region’s moral and political........

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