The Semiotics of the Press Photo of The Israeli War on Gaza -October 2023- In the German Press: “Der Spiegel” Magazine Cover as a Model

Abstract

Objectives: The study aims to attempt to understand and interpret the dimensions of the semiological analysis of the images of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip following the events of October 7, 2023, as reflected in the German press. This is achieved through a semiological analysis of the cover of Der Spiegel, one of the most prominent German magazines in Europe, which is published weekly.

Methods: The study adopted a survey methodology and Roland Barthes' approach to apply semiological analysis to the images by analyzing both the linguistic message and the connotative and denotative levels of the journalistic image. The researcher selected the cover of Der Spiegel as the study sample, using semiological analysis tools to examine six magazine covers from issues published between 14/10/2023 and 20/04/2024.

Results: The study found a clear disregard for mentioning Israeli violations against Palestinians. While acknowledging the deaths of thousands of Gaza civilians due to Israeli bombardment, Der Spiegel did not condemn Israel. The magazine focused on advocating for the protection of Jews in Germany, using historical justifications related to the Holocaust, while overlooking the suffering of Palestinians under 75 years of Israeli occupation and their denied right to statehood.

Conclusions: The study highlighted a bias towards the Israeli position, obscuring the true causes of the conflict, and framing Israel's aggression against Gaza as a war on terrorism.