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Israel is covered extensively by the American press. Several studies have examined US news coverage during specific events, yet a systematic analysis of the nature of this coverage is still lacking. This article provides an in-depth investigation of the coverage of Israel from 1981 to 2013 in three leading newspapers in the United States. Using computer-based content analysis of 56,490 news articles, we examine how the intensity of the coverage and the specific topics discussed vary over time. Our empirical findings demonstrate a relative decline in coverage of Israel, and confirm existing theories about media coverage of foreign events--mainly that coverage increases during periods of tumult, especially instances of armed conflict resulting in military action, and decreases during periods of heightened peace talks., INTRODUCTION What we know about the world is determined by what the media chooses to tell us. (1) Newspapers offer readers information about the current state of affairs, influencing the [...]

During his 2016 election campaign, Donald Trump vowed to change U.S. priorities and strengthen his administration's relationship with Israel and its government. As president, Mr. Trump carried through his campaign promises: He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; he withdrew the U.S. from the Iran Nuclear Deal; he cut funding for the Palestinians; took unilateral supportive actions at the U.N. and promoted peace negotiations between Israel and Arab countries in the region. The article reviews these measures as strategic partisan tools used by Donald Trump to fulfill commitments to his base and to appropriate issues which had long been avoided as partisan. In appropriating them for his own political gains, the former president tapped into and increased the ongoing partisan divide over Israel which may well become an irreversible trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]