What the Media Won’t Tell You About Life in Israel
- Hananya Naftali
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Have you noticed how every news report about Israel sounds the same? Rockets. Riots. Politics. Violence. If you believed the media, you’d think Israelis spend their lives hiding in bomb shelters. But that picture is a lie. Not just an exaggeration, a deliberate distortion. The truth about life in Israel is something the cameras won’t show you, because it doesn’t fit the storyline they’ve been selling for decades. Life in Israel is raw, beautiful, maddening, miraculous, and deeply human.
The Media’s Obsession With Blood
Turn on CNN, BBC, or any major outlet, and you’ll see the same footage: smoke rising over Gaza, IDF soldiers marching, angry protestors screaming. It’s always blood and chaos. Because tragedy sells. Peace does not. A Jewish mother dropping her kids off at school, or friends going on vacation? Boring. Doesn’t fit the script.
The global press has one lens on Israel: conflict. They reduce an entire nation, a land of 9 million people, into a war zone highlight reel. And let’s be clear, yes, we do have enemies who openly vow to destroy us. We live under the threat of terror. But if you only stare at the smoke, you miss the miracle: Israel doesn’t just survive. It thrives.
The Real Life the Cameras Ignore
Here’s what they won’t show you:
Tel Aviv beaches are packed with families every Friday afternoon, fathers grilling while kids play matkot (paddle ball) on the sand.
Jerusalem streets are alive with Shabbat preparation, the smell of fresh challah filling the air as neighbors rush home before sundown. If you haven't experienced it yet - GO NOW TO ISRAEL!
Hospitals where Jews and Arabs work side by side. Israeli doctors treating Palestinian patients, Muslim nurses treating Jewish patients, no cameras in sight.
Innovation hubs creating world-changing technology: drip irrigation that feeds Africa, cybersecurity that protects your bank account, medical breakthroughs that save lives worldwide.
That’s Israel. Not just bombs and politics. But joy, progress, and stubborn life.
The Example the World Hates
Israel is proof that Jews came back from ashes, the Holocaust, exile, pogroms, and built a state that flourishes. That success enrages people who would rather see us weak, wandering, and apologizing for existing.
When you stand in Jerusalem, you feel history colliding with the present. The Bible isn’t a book collecting dust on a shelf; it’s the morning commute. You literally walk where prophets walked. You see a modern train gliding past the ancient City of David. Psalm 122 says: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” And yet, instead of praying for her peace, much of the media cheers for her destruction.
The secret? They hate Israel because it represents survival. It represents faith in God over the odds. And that terrifies those who build their kingdoms on lies.
A Story From the Ground
I’ll give you an example the media ignored. In May 2021, during a rocket barrage from Gaza, a good friend of mine was in Jerusalem. Sirens wailed, and people rushed into stairwells for safety. In one small apartment building, neighbors, Jewish, Arab, religious, secular, all crammed together, waiting for the rockets to be intercepted. Someone started singing. A psalm. Then another voice joined. By the time the all-clear sounded, the group was singing out loud.
That’s the Israel you won’t see on TV. A people who refuse to be defined by terror. A people who, even in danger, sing. That’s the secret power of Israel: it’s not utopia. It’s reality. Raw, loud, imperfect, holy reality.
The Hope That Can’t Be Killed
Israel teaches the world one thing: hope cannot be bombed out, legislated away, or censored by journalists. It’s built into the land and the people. We are here. And nothing, not biased headlines, not rockets, not antisemitic resolutions at the UN, can erase that.
Isaiah 66:8 asks: “Shall a nation be born in one day?” Yes. On May 14, 1948, against all odds, Israel was reborn. And she has been breathing life ever since.
So when you hear the media’s tired script, the war, the chaos, the endless blame game, remember this: Israel is more than the headlines. It’s laughter on a Friday night, innovation changing the world, neighbors singing in stairwells while rockets fall.
Life in Israel isn’t about surviving. It’s about living. Boldly. Fearlessly. And with faith that tomorrow will be better. And that’s the story the world doesn’t want you to know.