Nowadays, every war has two battlefields. The first is the actual military battlefield, with hand-to-hand combat, armed forces, and weaponry and ammunition. The other battlefield, which is inherently related to the first one, is public diplomacy, namely, the battle over the hearts and minds, which also constitutes a fierce battle over international legitimacy and control over the narrative. This is a combat over the hearts and minds of the general public and the international community. In this battlefield, the written word, verbal and visual arguments, and evidence, usually spread over the easily accessible social media, are the key elements.
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In terms of moral values, public diplomacy well exposes the vast unbridgeable gap between Israel and Hamas in every respect.
Israel's efforts in this domain are based on fact-checking, accuracy, authenticity and ultimately, revealing the truth. Consequently, Israel often finds itself at a disadvantage, when the price paid is the precious time spent by it on ensuring that the official statement released is based on accurate facts.
The terror organization Hamas, on the other hand, which is highly experienced in manipulation and brainwashing, does not concern itself with truth or facts and is ready to use any means necessary that serve its purpose.
One of the most prominent examples is the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Hamas immediately accused Israel the moment the reports on the hospital explosion surfaced. Israel, on the other hand, took all measures necessary to look into the matter and verify the facts before releasing a statement. Such efforts on Israel's part took time, of course, against the backdrop of the growing international concern. Finally, the forensic analysis has shown that in fact, the hospital's parking rather than the hospital itself was hit by an Islamic Jihad rocket launched against Israel, which misfired, landing in Gaza.
The night-long investigation Israel undertook to ensure providing credible evidence, has proven that it was not at fault and that most of the original claims were false. In the meantime, the night-long time gap was used by Hamas to incite Palestinians to violence and spread false information worldwide, when even world leaders fell for their lies.
Palestinian terrorist organizations have been known for false use and fabrication of evidence long before the current war broke out. Their infamous propaganda machine is called "Pallywood", as it signifies deceptions worthy of a full-fledged Palestinian Hollywood. Pallywood has become an industry dedicated to promoting false use of evidence and misinformation to create a kind of parallel reality. In this virtual reality, the aggressors are introduced as victims and vice versa.
The so-called "Hamas Studios" serves as more evidence, demonstrating how far Hamas can go in perpetrating lies and deception. This terrorist organization fabricates, misrepresents, and blatantly lies, spreading false information, falsely attributing photos, forging Israeli misdeeds, and engaging in other forms of fraud. Hamas has intensified its efforts concurrently with its deadly attack on Israel, manufacturing endless disinformation worthy of Goebbels.
Many people, either naively or willingly, swallow Hamas's bait. Accepting disinformation is not only immoral but also dangerous.
Seeing demonstrators protesting against Israel in favor of Hamas is heartbreaking, after many hundreds of Israeli citizens, including children, women, and men, both young and old were massacred, abducted, burned alive, raped, and murdered. Consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or naively, such demonstrations show support for these atrocities against innocent civilians.
In these demonstrations, some of the participants make no secret of their plain antisemitism, shouting out loud antisemitic slogans and clearly displaying swastikas.
Others may be just misled by highly biased media outlets, being constantly brainwashed by Hamas and Palestinian propaganda. Nonetheless, ignorance is no excuse for their moral failure, and conscious avoidance is no grounds for acquittal.
These false narratives are dangerous, and they should be challenged, and their perpetrators should be held accountable, as history has shown us that the cost of false narratives is – human lives.
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