How Israel Lost the 2023 Gaza Propaganda War

Authors

  • Author

  • Basim Tweissi

Keywords:

The Israeli War on Gaza, Israeli Propaganda, Media, Digital Media

Abstract

This study sheds light on the Israeli propaganda narrative during the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. It is based on a qualitative content analysis of the messages that shaped the narratives, methods, and techniques utilized by the Israeli propaganda discourse in a persistent attempt to shape global perceptions of war and conflict. The Israeli narrative dominated the first three weeks of the war, and the Western mainstream media fully adopted the Israeli perspective for a long time, but the first indications of a shift in the global perception of the war began on 17 October 2023, the night of the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza city. At the end of the first month of the war, a new narrative emerged, primarily visible on digital media platforms, that clearly contradicts the Israeli propaganda narrative.

References

  1. Douglas Kellner, The Persian Gulf TV War (Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1992).
  2. Liv Martin, Clothilde Goujard & Haley Fuchs, “Israel Floods Social Media to Shape Opinion around the War,” Politico , 17/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/4pk2rtus
  3. Thomas D. Mayfield, “A Commander’s Strategy for Social Media,” Joint Forces Quarterly , no. 60 (1st Quarter 2011), pp. 79-83.
  4. Desiree Adib, “Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict, ‘Information War’ Plays out on Social Media, Experts Say,” ABC News , 24/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/27bvru54
  5. Jennifer Stefano, “Watching Video Footage of the Heinous Hamas Attacks on Oct. 7 is a Moral Obligation,” The Philadelphia Inquirer , 20/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/26x6vwt5
  6. Sloan Oliver, “Bearing Witness to the Evil of Hamas,” The Monroe County Reporter , 15/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/564wwhej
  7. Andrew Wallenstein, “After Seeing Israel’s Gory Oct. 7 Hamas Attack Footage, I Say You Shouldn’t – Yet,” Variety , 16/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/3bky4b6r
  8. Israel Defense Forces, IDF, Spokesperson’s Unit Videos, YouTube, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/yc2jmbxb
  9. “Israel is under attack,” Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Israel National Digital Agency, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/3mnhy8zj
  10. “Hostages and Their Families Speak,” Israel National Digital Agency, 19/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/32yxa2e9
  11. Anshel Pfeffer, “Screening Hamas Atrocities: Why Hasbara Is Another Israeli Concept that’s Failed,” Haaretz , 26/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/43y6avau
  12. Chas W. Freeman, Jr, “Hasbara and the Control of Narrative as an Element of Strategy,” Middle East Policy Council, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/345u4sfw
  13. “The Hasbara Apparatus: Units, Tasks and Areas of Responsibility,” The Center for the Renewal of Democracy, Molad, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/4nuz7kn6
  14. Dr. Frank Luntz, The Israel Project’s 2009: Global Language Dictionary , The Israel Project for Security, Freedom and Peace (Jerusalem/ Washington, DC: The Israel Project (TIP), 2009).
  15. M. Reza Behnam, “Uncovering Israeli Propaganda: Wars to Wage with Words to Bamboozle,” CounterPunch , 16/8/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/778b5m2v
  16. Martin, Goujard & Fuchs.
  17. “Prisoners, Propaganda, and the Battle over the Gaza War Narrative,” The Intercept , 29/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/mr3mmaej
  18. Alex Vandermaas-Peeler, Jelena Subotic & Michael Barnett, Constructing Victims: Suffering and Status in Modern World Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
  19. Nurit Shnabel & Masi Noor, “Competitive Victimhood among Jewish and Palestinian Israelis Reflects Differential Threats to Their Identities: The Perspective of the Needs-Based Model,” in: K. J. Jonas & T. A. Morton (eds.), Restoring Civil Societies: The Psychology of Intervention and Engagement Following Crisis (New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell, 2012), pp. 192-207.
  20. Michael Barnett, “Cosmopolitanism: Good for Israel? Or bad for Israel?” in: Emanuel Adler (ed.), Israel in the World: Legitimacy and Exceptionalism (London, UK: Routledge, 2012).
  21. Azmi Bishara, “Moral Matters in Hard Times,” Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, 14 November 2023, accessed on 4/2/2024, at: http://tinyurl.com/zr955ttz
  22. “Nuḥārib Ḥayawānāt ʿalā Hayʾat Bashar.. Wazīr al-Difāʿ al-Isrāʾīlī Yuwajih Bi-Farḍ Ḥiṣār Shāmil ʿalā Qiṭāʿ Ghazzah,” Al-Jazeera Mubashir, Youtube, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/35taj9ja
  23. “ ʿAmīḥāy ʾIlīyāhū.. Man Huwa al-Wazīr al-Isrāʾīlī al-Lathī Ṣaraḥ Bi-Iḥtimāliyyat Qaṣf Ghazzah Bi-Qunbila Nawawīyyah?” BBC Arabic , 6/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/yvk5ua6h.
  24. On 25 November 2023, three young Palestinians were shot in Vermont. Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali Ahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid were students at American universities. They were on their way to a family dinner when they were attacked because they were wearing Palestinian kufiya scarves. Before that, on 16 October, another Palestinian, a child, was stabbed 26 times and killed in Illinois. His mother was also injured in the hate crime, related to the war in Gaza.
  25. “Baʿda Taṣāʿud al-Intiqāḍāt Li-Ḥarbihā Bi-Ghazzah.. Hal Tuwājih Isrāʾīl ʿUzlatan Diblumāsīyyah?” Al-Hurra , 15/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/4frd72b5
  26. Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers (London/ New York: Routledge, 2011), pp. 1-3.
  27. See: Shibley Telhami, “Is the Israel-Gaza war changing US public attitudes?,” Commentary , Brookings, 2 November 2023, accessed on 6/5/2024, at: https://tinyurl.com/3bn6wybh; Geneive Abdo, “How American Public Opinion on Palestine Shifted,” Essays , The Cairo review: The American university in Cairo, Winter 2024, accessed on 6/5/2024, at: https://tinyurl.com/5eymhvet; Matthew Smite, “British attitudes to the Israel-Gaza conflict: February 2024 Update,” YouGov , 15/2/2024, accessed on 6/5/2024, at: https://tinyurl.com/bdfxtbx8; Jeffrey M. Jone, “Americans’ Views of Both Israel, Palestinian Authority Down: Eight-point decline for Palestinian Authority, 10 for Israel,” Gallup , 4/3/2024, accessed on 6/5/2024, at: https://tinyurl.com/4rdrycr3
  28. The spokesman for the Israeli army declined to confirm these claims, telling Turkish news agency Anadolu: “We have seen these reports and we have no details or confirmation on this matter”. See: “Israeli Army Says It Does Not Have ‘Confirmation’ about Allegations that ‘Hamas Beheaded Babies’,” Anadolu Agency , 11/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/54t73zdsTop of Form Bottom of Form
  29. Aric Toler et al., “A Close Look at Some Key Evidence in the Gaza Hospital Blast,” The New York Times , 24/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/2vx4s2br
  30. Liselotte Mas & Thomas Eydoux, “Gaza Hospital: What Detailed Image Analysis Reveals about Deadly Blast,” Le Monde , 19/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/yc8bzsb4
  31. Cédric Mathiot, Florian Gouthière & Jacques Pezet, “Israel, 7 Octobre: Un Massacre et des Mystifications,” Libération , 11/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/5n6mst5x
  32. “Arqām Wa-Asʾilah ʿan Hujūm Ḥamās ʿalā Isrāʾīl fī 7 Tishrīn al-Awwal/ Uktūbar,” Euronews Arabic , 15/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/4tj6ejvz
  33. “A Growing Number of Reports Indicate Israeli Forces Responsible for Israeli Civilian and Military Deaths Following October 7 Attack,” Mondoweiss , 22/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/3expc8a7
  34. “Hamas-ISIS is Sick. They Turn Hospitals into Headquarters for their Terror. We just Released Intelligence Proving It,” Benjamin Netanyahu, X, 27/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/r39nname
  35. “Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Israel’s Al-Shifa Hospital Claims,” CNN , 20/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/y245ysf9
  36. Andrew Mills, “Qatar Hostage Mediators Press Hamas on Civilian Releases - Diplomats, Sources,” Reuters , 25/10/2023, accessed on 28/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/3r5rzf9s
  37. “Hostage recalls meeting with Hamas leader in tunnel during captivity,” Israel Hayom , 28/11/2023, accessed on 6/5/2024, at: https://tinyurl.com/7z8t283a
  38. Leo Sands & Adela Suliman, “Why Are Israel and Hamas at War? A Basic Explainer,” The Washington Post , 22/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/4prujanw
  39. “Israel Is Losing Itself in the Carnage in Gaza,” Le Monde , 9/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/5n8j3zh5
  40. Drew Harwell, “TikTok Was Slammed for Its Pro-Palestinian Hashtags. But It’s not Alone,” The Washington Post , 13/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/5j83zrfs
  41. John Kehoe, “TikTok’s Anti-Israel Bias Exposed by Aussie Tech Entrepreneur,” Financial Review , 8/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/27h3stxd
  42. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld & Steven Tian, “The Israel-Hamas War Reveals the Fundamental Flaws of Social Media,” Time , 3/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/mw2eu4hz
  43. Omar Suleiman, “Israel Has Lost the War of Public Opinion,” Aljazeera , 30/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/yshbfzkr
  44. “ Ḍabṭ al-Jabha al-Iʿlāmiyyah al-Dākhilīyyah.. al-Ḥukūmah al-Isrāʾīlīyah Tuṭālib Bi-Qaṭʿ al-Tamwīl ʿan Ṣaḥīfah Tajāwazat al-Raqīb al-ʿAskarī,” Al-Arab , 25/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/36futr9v
  45. “Taḥta Ḍaghṭ al-Raqābah al-ʿAskarīyyah.. Yedīʿūt Aḥrunūt Tatarajaʿ ʿan Nashr Aʿdād Jarḥā al-Jaysh al-Isrāʾīlī fī Ghazzah,” Euronews Arabic, 10/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/yrmnt36c
  46. Michael Eisenstadt, “Israel’s Campaign Against Hamas in Gaza: War Aims and Operational Challenges,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 31/10/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/rbsu6chp
  47. Desiree Adib, “Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict, ‘Information War’ Plays out on Social Media, Experts Say,” ABC News , 24/11/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/27bvru54
  48. Robert A. Pape, “Israel’s Failed Bombing Campaign in Gaza: Collective Punishment Won’t Defeat Hamas,” Foreign Affairs , 6/12/2023, accessed on 23/12/2023, at: http://tinyurl.com/3ccpayks
  49. “Mowing the Grass” is a metaphor referring to Israel’s policy against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, consisting of intermittent military operations every few years to exhaust and reduce the adversary’s ability to harm Israel, and achieving temporary deterrence. These objectives are attained through incidental or large-scale operations. Proponents of the strategy had long argued that regularly “trimming” Gaza militants’ capabilities, like grass, would erode their fighting capacity over time.
Cover of العدد 15, Almuntaqa

Downloads

PDF (Hosted)
HTML

Published

2024-09-01

Usage statistics

54 views 58 downloads

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 015 (2024): Issue 015

Section

المقالات

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Almuntaqa

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.