Israel-Gaza
conflict expands to war of words on social media
Today there is a battle, a campaign online, offline in the electronic media for the hearts and minds of public opinion, it’s very, very important,” Paul Hirschson from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs told RT.
Image from Twitter/@IDFSpokesperson
Gaza Web War: Israeli PR machine sparks full-scale online offensive
As
the IDF’s bombardment of Gaza continues into its seventh day, both
Hamas and Israel are waging a digital war to shape public opinion.
Both sides have made extensive use of social media as a platform for
warmongering rhetoric.
RT,
20
November, 2012
Today there is a battle, a campaign online, offline in the electronic media for the hearts and minds of public opinion, it’s very, very important,” Paul Hirschson from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs told RT.
There
has been an escalation in warmongering rhetoric in the Israeli press
over the last week, inciting hostility and undermining negotiation
efforts in Cairo.
“Israel is lying to its people. The Israeli reporters are inflaming the situation, there is a huge incitement from army analysts,” Muhammad Abed Alkader, an Arabic student from Tel Aviv university told RT.
“Israel is lying to its people. The Israeli reporters are inflaming the situation, there is a huge incitement from army analysts,” Muhammad Abed Alkader, an Arabic student from Tel Aviv university told RT.
Another
student named Rula Khalaeleh echoed those sentiments, criticized the
Israeli media’s coverage of the conflict as insulting. Citing
the botched
IDF air strike that
killed an entire family in Gaza on Sunday, she said Israel’s press
had justified the deaths by treating every Palestinian like a
potential future Hamas member.
A
digital war has arisen following the flurry of activity on social
media over the IDF’s initial strike that killed Hamas military
leader Ahmed
Jabari
last Wednesday. Following the attack, the IDF not only tweeted a
warning threatening that other Hamas members could meet a similar
end, they also posted a video of the attack on YouTube.
“We
recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior
leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead,” the
IDF wrote on Twitter following the assassination.
The
IDF has offered wide-ranging coverage of its operations in Gaza,
providing running
commentary and
content on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Image from Twitter/@IDFSpokesperson
Political
analyst Ron Pundak told RT that Israel’s “ability
to prolong the conflict is based on how it is being perceived
internationally.”
“Interestingly
enough this war provides less pictures than for example the 2008-2009
war, which was taking place in Gaza,” Pundak
told RT. He argued that the only reason why there are fewer
casualties than in Israel’s last incursion is because Israel “would
like that the Palestinians have less pictures of the war.”
Hamas
has used social media to saber-rattle as well. Following the attack
that killed 11 civilians on Sunday, the group posted a message online
promising to exact revenge on Israel. And Hamas’ paramilitary wing,
Al Qassam, has been accused of uploading photos of dead Syrian
children onto their Twitter page in an attempt to pass the images off
as showing Palestinian victims of the conflict.
Israel
has also sought to silence Hamas’ media voice, bombing
the building which
houses TV station Al Aqsa on Monday. Before that, the IDF struck
al-Quds TV, a channel Israel has accused of being a vehicle for Hamas
propaganda. The IDF described the targeting of television outlets as
attacks on “communications
antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity against the state
of Israel.”
Journalist
Gilad Sharon, son of Israel’s ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, wrote
in a blog in the Jerusalem Post that Israel should “flatten
Gaza.” He
called for drastic action by the IDF, arguing that all of Gaza was
complicit in the conflict since its residents had democratically
elected Hamas.
While Israeli politicians weigh up whether or not to send their army into Gaza. They've had no hesitation in rolling out their PR machines into the social media battlefield.
From Real News
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