An Ideological-Rhetorical Analysis of Arab and Western Leaders' Responses to Gaza Starvation: Reconstructing Silence, Evasion, and Moral Responsibility (2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss3/Pt3.2063Keywords:
Keywords: Gaza starvation crisis, silence, evasion, moral responsibility, ideological-rhetorical strategies, critical discourse analysisAbstract
This study seeks to investigate how some Arab and Western leaders frame silence, evasion, and moral responsibility in their responses in 2025 to the Gaza starvation crisis by using ideological-rhetorical strategies. In the case of the Gaza crisis, political leaders discuss and establish accountability discursively through these rhetorical strategies. To explore this issue, this study adopts van Dijk's (2006) ideological-rhetorical strategies within a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach. The study follows a qualitative research method based on six speeches, three by Arab leaders and three by Western leaders. The findings indicate that the examined Arab and Western leaders use various ideological-rhetorical strategies. Of these, the commonly used are vagueness, victimization, dramatization, distancing, and generalization, which negotiate accountability and build moral positioning. As a result, these discursive strategies highlight the leaders' attempt to depoliticize the Gaza starvation crisis, thus concealing Israeli responsibility.
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