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The Israel-Hamas war is occurring in two arenas, the first on the ground in Gaza; and the second in the media, online and among communities worldwide. We know that the IDF is doing their part to keep Israel safe on the ground, and that leaves us to fight the ever-important information battle. To do this most effectively, it is important to understand Hamas’s methods and strategies.
One of Hamas’s key tactics in their misinformation campaign is the use of psychological warfare. Psychological warfare employs propaganda and other psychological methods to influence people’s opinions, conceptions, and attitudes. By using these methods Hamas can appeal to people’s emotions and change the narrative in their favor ⚖, erroneously painting themselves as the humane innocent victims , rather than the true raping, murderous terrorists that they are. Unfortunately, this false narrative has been adopted by many worldwide.
One of the common psychological warfare themes that Hamas has been promoting is their “humane treatment” of the hostages. We already saw this when they first released Nurit Cooper, 79 and Yocheved Lifshitz, 84, both residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz in October. When the Hamas terrorists escorted the elderly women to the Red Cross they went out of their way to act kind, hold the women’s hands and assist them. Yocheved received a lot of attention for her account of being treated well in captivity. Many in the international community held on to these words, drawing the conclusion that the Hamas terrorists who rampaged these women’s communities, murdered many of their neighbors and friends, ripped the elderly women from their homes, and then returned them without their husbands, weren’t actually that bad and were even humane .
As we can see in this example, Hamas chose to release two of the 240 hostages in the early stages of the war. They strategically chose individuals who were treated “relatively well” in captivity and carefully structured their propaganda images to make themselves look good. These steps helped mask the horrific acts that Hamas committed in the October 7th massacre and allowed them to direct the narrative that they wanted.
In the current round of hostage releases we have seen these tactics over and over again. Hamas has carefully orchestrated every step of the release, from the delays and setbacks in the slow trickle of a handful of hostages being released each day, to the routes in which the hostages vehicles were sent out on. They take advantage of the fact that Israelis value life and will do almost anything for the return of innocent victims. They know that they can get away with taking their time ⏱, breaking the rules of the truce and playing psychological games to drag along the process of returning the innocent civilians that they are holding captive.
Further, they employ their psychological warfare tactics directly with the hostages, up until their last moments in captivity. Released hostages described how Palestinian crowds swarmed their vehicles throwing stones and shouting, with some recounting that they were sure that they were being taken to their execution. Up to the final moments they were afraid for their lives, careful not to misstep in fear of being killed. In one video we can hear the terrorists directing the hostages to keep waving at the cameras. Each smile and wave is a calculated and scripted part of Hamas’s control over the victims in order to paint a false picture of reality. Importantly, this fear does not end once the hostages arrive home, it is deeply engraved in their psyche after weeks of captivity. Not to mention that most of the hostages have more family still in Gaza. This means that Hamas is still holding the reigns, one wrong move and the hostages’ loved ones can be murdered. This psychological pressure is damaging and unbearable for anyone, let alone the children who have been forced to endure this torture.
When looking at the whole picture and not focusing on the carefully constructed narrative that Hamas is spreading to the world, it is clear that the terrorists who violently abduct innocent mothers, fathers, children, babies, teenagers and elderly from their home and hold them captive for weeks on end cannot be considered humane.
We must break this false narrative, unveil Hamas’s use of psychological warfare and show the world the truth. Hamas are terrorists, the hostages are the victims.
If you hear anybody saying that Hamas is humane make sure to speak up and share the truth about:
- Their atrocities on October 7th Massacre
- Their treatment of the innocent civilians being held hostage
- Their mistreatment of Palestinian civilians
- Their total disregard for morality and humanity
On This Topic 👁
Fox News | Hamas terrorists use Israeli hostage release in game of psychological warfare
Jerusalem Post | The ‘separation and deception’ method in kidnappings
https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/gaza-news/article-775673
Times of Israel | Article exposing another method of psychological warfare Hamas has been using
Michael Dickson | Visual of what we see on the news vs. how the hostages really are
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0M_PIDNgzE/?igshid=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==