The Propaganda of Hegemony: Netanyahu, Fox News, and the Imperial Narrative

To understand how Western empire maintains its grip on global hegemony, one only needs to watch a broadcast of Fox News. In a recent exclusive interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with network anchor Maria Bartiromo to deliver a textbook performance in imperial public relations—replete with deflection, political framing, and the dismissal of international legal institutions.

For anti-imperialist observers, the interview provided a stark case study in how state actors and corporate media co-produce narratives designed to rationalize regional dominance, bypass global accountability, and justify foreign military action.

The Imperial Playbook: Dismissing the ICC

Central to Netanyahu’s media strategy was his aggressive dismissal of the International Criminal Court (ICC). When asked about the arrest warrants issued against him and former defense officials regarding conduct in Gaza, Netanyahu declined to engage with the substantive legal arguments, charges of war crimes, or findings by human rights organizations.

Instead, he focused his rhetoric on personal accusations against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, declaring the international court’s actions a "con job."

From an anti-imperialist perspective, this maneuver represents a well-worn doctrine: Imperial Exceptionalism. Under this framework:

• International law and international bodies are praised when deployed against official adversaries of the West.

• The same institutions are deemed "corrupt," "bogus," or "biased" the moment they attempt to apply universal human rights standards to Western states or their primary regional allies.

Framing Dissent as "Hate"

The interview also illustrated how domestic political opposition to U.S. foreign policy is neutralized in real time. Netanyahu leveled severe rhetoric against elected figures who have criticized Israeli military operations—most notably taking aim at political figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has highlighted international legal warrants and criticized Western military backing.

Netanyahu went so far as to accuse critics of "fomenting hate" and driving division among working-class communities, attempting to directly link political speech and calls for international law enforcement to domestic criminal incidents.

Anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist analysts identify this as a classic propaganda strategy: Conflation for Containment. By intentionally conflating principled opposition to state violence, occupation, and military aid with bigotry, political leadership seeks to raise the public cost of dissent and insulate state policy from democratic accountability.

Realpolitik, Regional War, and the Abraham Accords

Beyond domestic politics, Netanyahu’s appearance served as a platform to signal strategic alignment with Washington’s broader Middle Eastern objectives:

• Escalation with Iran: Netanyahu touted military operations that targeted Iranian infrastructure and nuclear scientists, framing these actions as a defense of "peace and the free world." For anti-imperialists, this rhetoric masks a strategy aimed at maintaining an absolute regional military monopoly through continuous preemption and Western military subsidies.

• The Normalization Doctrine: Discussing potential extensions of the Abraham Accords—including civilian nuclear proposals tied to Saudi Arabia—Netanyahu reinforced a top-down diplomatic strategy. This framework seeks to construct a regional security architecture supervised by the U.S. while systematically bypassing the core question of Palestinian self-determination and statehood.

The Media-State Complex

Ultimately, the Fox News segment offered a transparent look at the media-state complex in action. Rather than serving as a platform for rigorous press scrutiny, corporate news broadcasts routinely act as amplifiers for state power—allowing leaders to frame military campaigns in humanistic terms while delegitimizing the global institutions tasked with upholding human rights.

For anti-imperialists, breaking through these narrative frameworks requires looking past the polished talking points broadcast from studio desks and continually centering the material realities of power, military expansion, and international law.