ISRAEL LOSING THE BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS AS IT PRESSES ITS ATTACKS IN GAZA
I wrote yesterday about Antony Blinken’s disastrous diplomatic mission to Arab states in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence reportedly believes that Saudi Arabia’s support for the Palestinians is tepid at best. They may want to rethink that assessment in light of the statement the Saudis released today in response to a far-right minister Amichai Eliyahu’s comment during a radio interview that Israel could drop a nuke on Gaza.
Eliyahu was then asked if – since there are no non-combatants in his view – a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip is an option. “That’s one way,” he responded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that Eliyahu’s comments are “divorced from reality” and that Israel and the IDF are acting in accordance with international law in order to avoid harm to non-combatants.
You know it is bad when Bibi goes public so quickly and denounces a member of his government as delusional. But Netanyahu’s response did not undo the damage done by Eliyahu, whose comment simply added more fuel to the growing public outrage around the world about Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Here is a sample of protests around the world in the last couple of days.
Rome protest.
Jakarta protest.
Protests in London.
Protests in Pakistan from two weeks ago. No sign this passion has abated.
Protests in Washington, DC on Saturday.
Netanyahu’s quick response to Eliyahu’s inflammatory remark is a clear sign that he is feeling the pressure from the global protests. Israel is fighting an uphill battle in the war to win hearts and minds. The people and organizations backing the Palestinians in Gaza are working hard to cast the Israeli attacks as genocide rather than a focused operation to root out Hamas. Israel’s barrage of bombs and missiles, while presented as going after Hamas, are hitting so many civilian targets and causing so many massive casualties of children, women and elderly that the Israel is losing the propaganda war.
One thing that catches my attention in these various protests are the number of professionally printed protest signs. Who is funding these? You do not show up at a spontaneous protest with pre-printed signs. This is just one more indicator that the campaign to condemn Israel’s attacks in Gaza is well-funded and well organized.
Hamas also is doing a pretty sophisticated job of conducting information warfare. In using that term I am not suggesting they are lying or fabricating images. I am pointing out that Hamas and its supporters are not limiting themselves to military operations like launching rockets into Israel or carrying out ambushes. The following video is a prime example of Hamas producing a message designed to win support in the Arab and Muslim world.
It also looks like Israel is awakening to the challenge of conducting urban combat amid the rubble of the streets of Gaza. This is no “cake walk.” A Fox News reporter says that in just one operation to clear a sector that Israeli troops suffered more than “two dozen losses.” Unlike Hamas, Israel does not have the stomach for large casualties among its troops — Israel does not have an unlimited source of manpower.
On the northern front Hezbollah has released a new batch of videos showing launches of mortars and missiles at Israeli targets along the border with Lebanon. These are tactical attacks and are meant to remind Israel that Hezbollah can escalate to a degree that Israel would be hard pressed to counter. One more reminder that we are sitting on a tinderbox that can be set on fire very quickly and spread into a regional conflagration.