Publish it not... The Middle East Cover-Up

Publish it Not: The Middle East Cover-Up is a 1975 exposé by Michael Adams and Christopher Mayhew on Western media coverage of the Israel–Palestine issue, arguing for biases and censorship in reporting. The edition pictured is a Longman paperback (1975) with 193 pages.

The book is a powerful critique of Western media coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue. Michael Adams, a journalist, and Christopher Mayhew, a British politician, argue that since the creation of Israel, the Western media had deliberately and successfully suppressed and distorted the truth about the situation in Palestine. They contended that pro-Israeli pressure and propaganda had created a biased and misinformed public perception, which served to perpetuate an imbalance of power in the region.

The authors challenge several long-standing myths about the conflict, including the ideas that:

• Zionist intentions in Palestine were benevolent and not aimed at displacing the indigenous population.

• Palestine was "a land without a people" before Jewish settlement.

• Zionist efforts "made the desert bloom."

• Israel has always sought peace while Arab nations have rejected it.

Its Significance

The book's significance lies in its early and direct challenge to the mainstream narrative surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West. It was a pivotal work that helped to unmask certain myths and bring to light the extent to which media bias was shaping public opinion. It was one of the first books to explicitly discuss the "Zionist management of the British media" and its impact on the public's understanding of the conflict. The arguments made in the book were so impactful that they led to a libel suit against an Israeli newspaper, Maariv, which had called the authors "antisemites." This trial, though the court ultimately sided with the newspaper, highlighted the tense and contentious nature of these debates and the fine line between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism.

Even decades after its initial publication, the book remains a significant piece of literature for anyone studying the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the role of media in international relations, and the ongoing debates about media bias and propaganda. A later edition with a new introduction noted that many of the issues Mayhew and Adams addressed in 1975 still resonate today.