It has not been the most stable of times for geopolitics globally, with Russia's attack on Ukraine followed by Israel's killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians since October 2023. These events have been at the center of news agencies the world over, with fresh updates coming almost daily.
When looking at Israel and its conflicts with various West Asian nations, its latest is with Iran. However, the latter has shown that it is not a community that will stand aside and tolerate such atrocities, with its latest act of retaliation making waves on livestreaming and helping a major news outlet climb to the top of the charts on YouTube.
AlJazeera Arabic's coverage of Iran firing around 200 missiles into Israel, specifically its commercial hub, Tel Aviv, on October 1 saw it reach a channel record of 717.522 Peak Viewers. For a channel whose previous record stood at around 318K PV, this was a massive rise and shows how much interest this escalation between the two Asian nations has garnered. This broadcast, which has been live since November 2022, has averaged over 44K viewers in almost two years since.
It also meant the channel had entered the top ten for most popular YouTube Live channels in the News & Politics genre this year. Unsurprisingly, the leaders of the table have either come from companies covering the ongoing Presidential Debates in the United States or the Indian General Elections held in May.
One good example of political events attracting eyeballs came recently from Brazil. The São Paulo municipal election, which has heated up thanks to three major contenders emerging for the mayoral position, saw contender Pablo Marçal expelled from the Flow Podcast debate. Its live stream registered a substantial 1.06M PV, making it one of the most-watched political moments of the year.
Returning to the Iran-Israel conflict, it has to be noted that the Iran Revolutionary Guards revealed after that this was in retaliation to Israel killing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and its Senior Commander, Abbas Nilforoushan. Alongside Hezbollah, Hamas is an Iran-backed militia that has been at loggerheads with Israel for months.
In fact, Israel's decision to attack Lebanon was because it is home to Hezbollah, which has become Iran's key regional ally over the years. That is why it detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies of Hezbollah members across Lebanon last week, killing many and wounding thousands, including civilians.
Although the Israel Defense Forces revealed that most of Iran's missiles had been intercepted, thanks to help from world allies US and UK, the IRGC warned that its neighbors would face 'crushing attacks' if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.
However, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari was quoted as saying by news agency AFP that the country would respond at the time and place of its choosing:
"This attack will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide".
It seems the conflict in the Middle East is at an all-time high and countries are being forced to choose sides even though it is increasingly clear to the larger global community who is at fault. Many nations are joining a team that will benefit them geopolitically, but there is a lot more to come before we can see an end to these almost genocidal killings that have been aided by the Western and European powers.
The AlJazeera live stream peaked right after the launch of the missiles, which sparked jubilant celebrations in the country. Soon after, media outlets reported that Iran officials had claimed what damage was done to Israeli property, attracting further attention online and among the citizens.
When going through the overall list of most popular News & Politics streams, four of the top five came when covering the ongoing tussle to become the next President of the United States. While the top channel, ABC News, and NBC News reached such high placings by covering the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on September 10, CNN and CBS News made the top three by broadcasting the first and only face-off between Trump and incumbent POTUS Joe Biden.
We also have Indonesian actress and journalist Najwa Shihab in the top five for covering the Southeast Asian nation's final presidential debate in February. There are also two Indian channels, including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that covered a religious event and the results of the general elections held in May.
The Americas too had representation from two channels, with the São Paulo municipal election debate finishing in tenth on the leaderboard. Mexico rounds off the broadcast list thanks to the April coverage of the total solar eclipse by news outlet NMás.
