{"id":97285,"date":"2022-08-05T17:05:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T15:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=97285"},"modified":"2022-08-05T07:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T05:43:00","slug":"12-05-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=97285","title":{"rendered":"The Media Achilles\u2019 Heel That Is Hamas Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>The Media Achilles\u2019 Heel That Is Hamas Propaganda<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Rachel O’Donoghue<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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IDF materials showing alleged Hamas tunnel infrastructure located beneath schools in the Gaza Strip. Photo: IDF<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A Hamas spokesman this week\u00a0released a statement<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0claiming the death of one of its fighters who had been tasked with guarding the remains of an Israeli soldier being held by the Gazan terrorist organization. Abu Obeida revealed that the unnamed militant belonging to the special band of militants dubbed the Shadow Unit, was killed in a strike by Israel during the May 2021 Hamas-initiated conflict against Israel, while three other unit members had been injured.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the 2014 Gaza war when they were killed, Hamas has used the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin as bargaining chips in an attempt to secure the release of Palestinian security prisoners jailed in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the eighth anniversary of the Battle of Asaf al-Makul [2014 Gaza War] during which the al-Qassam Brigades [Hamas] captured two Zionist soldiers \u2026\u00a0 Al-Qassam leadership is allowed to reveal that a place during the battle of Sayf al-Quds [2021 Gaza war] last year was subjected to Zionist bombardment, which led to the martyrdom of one of the shadow fighters and the wounding of three others while they were carrying out the mission of guarding one of the [Israeli] soldiers,\u201d Obeida said without identifying which POW he was referring to.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Hamas is also holding captive two Israelis, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who both entered the territory voluntarily and are thought to be alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Sayed, a Bedouin from the Negev village of Hura, was reportedly suffering from mental health issues when he crossed into the coastal enclave in 2015, while\u00a0Ethiopian-born Jew Mengistu, who is said to have been battling schizophrenia, was captured after climbing the border fence that separates Gaza from Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

HonestReporting just\u00a0recently highlighted<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0the media\u2019s apparent indifference to the fates of Mengistu and al-Sayed, noting that it was only when a video was released in July of Al-Sayed hooked up to an oxygen mask \u2014 the first confirmation since his disappearance in 2015 that he was still alive \u2014 did news outlets focus on his plight and highlight Hamas\u2019 barbaric war crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Joe Truzman, a research analyst with the\u00a0Long War Journal,<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0who specializes in Palestinian jihadist groups, the Hamas statement, which came more than a year after the alleged death during an Israeli strike, is part of a deliberate propaganda ploy by the terror organization:<\/span><\/p>\n

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While the information about the killing and injury of Hamas\u2019 shadow unit members is new information, Obeida\u2019s main message, though not explicitly stated, is that Israel bombed the site where an IDF prisoner was being held, possibly causing him injury \u2026 Obeida purposely omitted key details of the strike and the status of the POW in an attempt to create urgency and press the Israeli government to accept a prisoner swap with Hamas.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Hamas is no stranger to employing propaganda tactics in a bid to influence both the Israeli government and the Western media.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the May 2021 war saw the terror propaganda machine in full swing, including when the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in Gaza issued\u00a0stern guidance<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>about how the foreign press can be best manipulated. \u201cAnyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don\u2019t forget to always add \u2018innocent civilian\u2019 or \u2018innocent citizen\u2019 in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza,\u201d read one of the directives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another directive stated: \u201cAvoid publishing pictures of rockets fired into Israel from [Gaza] city centers. This [would] provide a pretext for attacking residential areas in the Gaza Strip. Do not publish or share photos or video clips showing rocket launching sites or the movement of resistance [forces] in Gaza.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The guidance seemingly did the trick.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BBC, for example, fell into the trap of\u00a0peddling Hamas propaganda<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0when it ran an article that was designed to tug at readers\u2019 heartstrings, specifically its description of a photo of a little girl holding a doll as she sat in the \u201cruins of the tower block that was brought down by Israeli air strikes next to her family home \u2014 which was also hit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The British broadcaster, however, neglected to tell its readers that the tower block that had been hit was housing members of Hamas and was being used for military purposes, despite its location in a densely-populated area.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0was also apparently\u00a0used as a mouthpiece<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0for Gaza\u2019s genocidal rulers when it purported to highlight the devastating impact of the war on young Palestinians. As well as failing to mention Hamas\u2019 policy of using its civilians as human shields, the newspaper only mentioned in its accompanying article \u2014 and not the 14-minute video lead \u2014 that the film had only been produced after \u201csecuring permission from Hamas<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As we\u00a0noted<\/a>\u00a0at the time, Hamas shapes the narrative of such reports by accompanying foreign journalists and vetting their every move. Those who fail to observe the rules are liable to be harassed, have footage destroyed, or risk being banned from the enclave.<\/span><\/p>\n

Returning to the latest Hamas propaganda statement about an allegedly deceased militant guarding the remains of an Israeli soldier, there has been radio silence from news outlets. Not a single mainstream media publication has reported on Hamas\u2019 implicit efforts to blackmail the Israeli government into releasing Palestinian prisoners.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would appear, therefore, that the media has something of an Achilles\u2019 heel when it comes to identifying Hamas propaganda, whatever guise it comes in.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The author<\/strong> is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias \u2014 where a version of this article\u00a0first appeared<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Media Achilles\u2019 Heel That Is Hamas Propaganda Rachel O’Donoghue IDF materials showing alleged Hamas tunnel infrastructure located beneath schools in the Gaza Strip. Photo: IDF A Hamas spokesman this week\u00a0released a statement\u00a0claiming the death of one of its fighters who had been tasked with guarding the remains of an Israeli soldier being held by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97285"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97301,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97285\/revisions\/97301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}