The Japanese Media’s ‘Unethical’ Broadcastings

As many people in Israel may know, Mei Shigenobu is the daughter of the supreme leader of the Japanese Red Army. Many who don’t know the origin of the name Mei would be surprised to learn that Mei was named after the Tel Aviv Massacre, which happened in May 1972. Her father is said to be a Lebanese Palestinian. Her mother, Fusako Shigenobu, taught May or Mei to fight for “Free Palestine” from a young age.

On October 11th, right after October 7th, the Japanese TV station broadcast an abhorrent program with May Shigenobu. The Japanese journalists directly translated “Open Prison” from English and made the story by Palestinian journalists and Al Jazeera journalists the absolute truth about the situation in Gaza. They are indeed with Qatari media Al Jazeera.

If you understand Japanese or watch this terrible program on the Japanese TV station TBS, you will see who Mei Shigenobu is.

Title of the TV News Program: Hodo #1930, TBS Station

(October 11th, 2023)

The program was discussed among the leading five persons except for the subcaster.

The primary caster: Kouji Matsubara(Chief Editor and a Caster), Junna Yamagata(Subcaster), Shinsuke Tsutsumi (The former chief editor of “ForeSight”), Koichiro Tanaka(Professor of Keio University, whose research field is international relations in the Middle East, Energy Security, etc.), Tsuneo Watabe (The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Senior Research Fellow), Mei Shigenobu(Journalist specializing in the Middle East)

This is not my impression, but there is not even one single mention of how Hamas conducted the terror acts on October 7th, while many of the photos and video clips pointing to the facts about the October 7th massacres were released by many Israeli journalists and government personnel. I’m not saying I must bow down to the government the whole time under democracy. However, in reality, the people who bowed down to terrorism are the people of Gaza.

Soon after October 7th, a vocal British-Palestinian peace activities, John Aziz, and a major think tank in Israel released a similar research graph on X, showing how many people support the “October 7th massacre.” John Aziz is an outspoken Palestinian who is against the October 7th brutal massacres/Hamas atrocities against innocent Israeli civilians.

On the TBS broadcasting program, which was aired on October 11th, there was not even a single mention of what Hamas did to innocent Israeli civilians. The Japanese media always talk of “justice” in their standards. There are reasons why I hate this.

Back during the Pacific War, Japan committed a number of war crimes against humanity. On the other hand, in Germany, even to this day, when a NAZI collaborator is found, they’re brought to justice. In a sense, the media essentially says, “Let’s forget about the past and look at the future in a sense “we” want to.” This “we want to” is causing is always a problem in broadcasting wars. The Japanese media broadcasts and claims “brutal acts of U.S. military” by force during the Pacific War without telling what caused all the disasters in Japan. I really hate this narrative.

I’m not saying I’m the only Japanese who thinks of this. However, the guest speaker invited to the broadcasting program was the last person on this planet to discuss any fair issues in Palestine, Mei Shigenobu. She cannot write her name as her mother named for reasons. I’m not saying the terrorist and his or her daughter think in the same manner. However, in the case of Mei Shigenobu, she clearly made a misleading and false narrative on the issues between the Muslim Arabs in Palestine and Israelis.

*Just to note, a journalist, John Aziz, was appalled at the fact that nearly 70% of the population supported “October 7th massacres against Israelis.” In the Japanese broadcasting news, they read out the approval rates of the administration, which is uncertain regarding how they were taken or the elections; they did make no mention of how many people supported October 7th among Arabs in Palestine and Arabs in Israel. In Israel, on the other hand, approximately only 30% of the Arab population supported the October 7th massacres. Long after the statistics were released by several think tanks, the Japanese media discussed this in December.

At the same time, the Arab population in Israel also became the target of Hamas’ brutal acts. Especially journalists never tell in the news that 21% of the population consists of Arabs. The news is said as if Arabs are only in Palestinian authorities or in Gaza, where Hamas realistically governs. However, in my view, Hamas is not a government. Almost every day, though, the news media outlets read out the casualty number that the Gaza Health Ministry, governed by Hamas, issued. This is very misleading to the Japanese public that Arabs called Palestinians had to leave their land, and Israeli nationals consist only of only Jewish people.

To many, it was just a murder. Palestinian Authority doesn’t approve of any homosexuality. Amid this war, there were honor killings of Palestinians in Palestinian authority because they allegedly cooperated Israeli government. There were other honor killings of homosexual Palestinians. Mei Shigenobu never mentioned the human rights violations by Palestinian authorities themselves. The UN delegate called for an investigation of rapes of Israeli women on October 7th in a UN session. Before discussing the Israeli government’s credibility, Palestinian authorities are the ones who should look into the moral ethics of their statements.

A Japanese journalist did an interview with Hamas. Hamas showed a tunnel, which one person could barely walk through, to a Japanese journalist on the ground. It turned out in this war that the tunnel was longer than any subway or metro line in the world, longer than Tokyo, London, or New York Metro.

Here came the “specialist of the Middle East,” Mei Shigenobu. Among the damages of Gaza, one crucial question is why the Palestinians can’t hold weapons. Israel gets massive support from the U.S., while the Palestinians aren’t allowed to have weapons to defend themselves. The Palestinians have been under “occupation” of Israel for decades.”

I have no faith in the UN and especially UNWRA, which has been operating for Palestinians for decades. When there was the October 7th massacres, over 3000 teachers in UNWRA Telegram cheered October 7th for joy. UNRWA is 90% composed of Palestinians.

Here is a question. Is gang-raping women and parading with the naked women’s bodies after they were killed in Gaza a resistance? Is cutting off breasts while Hamas members were gang-raping women an act of resistance? Is cutting off women’s genitals an act of resistance? Is burning people alive an act of resistance? These 3000 UNWRA teachers cheered for joy on these “extremely heinous acts.” There are also records of bank transfers to support Hamas in UNWRA funding.

Mei Shigenobu quoted, “When someone is bullied over and over, there is a moment they pay back.” She is far from a pacifist or a specialist in the Middle East. She was quoting UN resolutions and also the rights of Ukraine to resist Russian oppression. I’d like to avoid talking about the case of Ukraine here.

The leading broadcaster was started talking about why Hamas took hostages. Mei Shigenobu said, “There are over 5,000 arrests by Israeli authorities, and 25% of them are in jail without trials.” When someone allegedly committed a war crime. or plotted a terror attack, the pre-war Japanese government had the authority to arrest them and them in a very similar manner.

Who taught the terrorists like Hamas “what she calls Palestinians” the terror attacks against innocent Israelis? Her mother did. While she talks about peace in Gaza, she promotes arming Palestinians, which her mother once did. She also trained a number of terrorists.

A self-proclaimed Palestinian journalist appeared in the broadcasting show. How many journalists were the actual Hamas fighters and commanders? How many civilians kept and tortured Israeli hostages in their homes? There was an interesting answer to the question regarding October 7th by the female journalist.

She said, “From the start of the year(2023), the escalation of the situation was predicted.” A well-known journalist for Palestine Chronicle and Al Jazeera, Abdallah Aljamal, was killed along with his father in June this year when the hostages were rescued. Abdallah Aljamal left joyous posts about October 7th, praying to God, on social media.

In my opinion, this is highly unethical to any God in any religion. I firmly believe that it is an abuse of religion and profane to resort to such an act, and Mei Shigenobu’s mother’s group, the Japanese Red Army, utilized the opportunity and trained the radical Islamic groups.

I’m curious to know how many of you know the background of Mei Shibenobu, or May, as her mother, Fusako Shigenobu, wished. Mei Shigenobu is also very defensive about her mother’s actions. Why did TV station TBS and others, including Asahi, which first hired her, allow such a person who cannot give any fair opinion or discussions on TV, which is to the public? In a word, she is a terror sympathizer as she does not consider Hamas as a terror group herself and October 7th as a terror attack against Israel. To her, it is not even a problem morally to commit terror acts as a part of retaliation. Then, she totally lacks the logic that Israel has every right to defend and protect her people as a nation.

She considers those groups as the ones “resisting” against Hamas. She tries to give the total misconception and lies that the Jews, the Zionists, “occupy” the land. Mei doesn’t sound so different from her mother. She thinks it’s no problem to burn people alive, mutilate babies’ heads and other parts of the body, and calls her the specialist of the Middle East.

TV stations and newspapers who invite her to write opinions about Israel or Israel-Palestine conflicts have no morality. The problem with the Japanese media is that they invite such controversial personalities to a TV program and let them explain in a way they want. The reason is very clear. It is for higher program ratings, and this tradition of the Japanese TV station needs to meet the social obligations of TV or the media to benefit the Japanese public.