Photographs of civilian
suffering during a war are a key fighting tool, sometimes one that can
tip the balance. The reason is simple: Hamas has more of a media
strategy than a military one. Hamas is calculatingly focusing its
efforts on war tactics intended to promote a sophisticated media
strategy that has the potential to threaten Israel's basic security. In
this offensive battle, Hamas can depend on the most lethal weapon of all
-- international media and public opinion.
As a sovereign state,
Israel must stand stalwart in the face of Hamas' threats, and as a state
committed to Jewish, democratic values, Israel tries tirelessly to
minimize harm to Palestinian civilians. Still, when waging war against
Hamas, Israeli values like steadfastness and morality can become an
Achilles heel. To maximize harm to civilians, Hamas fighters operate
under the cover of women and the elderly, shoot from inside ambulances,
stockpile rockets in schools and prevent civilians from fleeing the
places where the fighting is going on. This side of the war is noted
only occasionally by journalists covering the conflict.
The media's obsession
stems from many sources. These include authentic empathy with
Palestinian suffering, opposition to Israeli policy, and in certain
cases loathing for the Jewish state. However, many journalists would be
appalled at the hint that they are cooperating with a terrorist
organization. Most of them feel that they are simply doing their jobs by
supplying the audience with the most recent, up-to-date images and
stories from the field. And in Hamas they know that as the number of
Palestinian civilian casualties grows, they are grabbing more headlines
and air time than the victims in Syria or Iraq.
Hamas knows that
Israel's advanced homefront civilian defenses ensure a growing gap
between the number of wounded Israelis and Palestinians. This gap is a
focus point for foreign analysts that will lead them to conclude that
Israel is using disproportional force. More than anything, Hamas is
aware that pictures of the wounded in Gaza fire up international public
opinion. Fanning the flames of public opinion will lead to condemnations
in the United Nations and accusations of war crimes, as well as
international sanctions that could tie Israel's hands in dealing with
the rockets.
Intentionally or
unknowingly, the international media has been cast in a leading role in
Hamas' horror screenplay. While journalists assume that they are helping
the Palestinians by broadcasting their suffering and distress, they are
really making them worse. They exempt Hamas from any accusation of
using the population as a human shield and stealing hundreds of millions
of dollars earmarked for humanitarian aid to use to build bunkers for
its leaders and dig tunnels whose only purpose is to murder innocent
civilians. At the same time, Israel is expected to apologize for its
defense systems and for not having civilian casualties. Rather than
painting for the viewer the complicated picture in which both Israelis
and Gazans are victims of the Hamas terror group, the media prefers a
superficial discussion of East vs. West, colonialists vs. children,
David vs. Goliath.
Beyond that, the most
important role the foreign media is playing in Hamas' strategy is to
demoralize Israelis. Israel is prepared to pay a high operational price
and even endanger Israeli soldiers to keep from harming innocent
civilians in Gaza. However, Israel is portrayed by the media as the
aggressor, without discrimination. In a situation like this, there are
Israelis who will say "might as well go all in" -- if they're blaming us
anyway, why make the effort and risk our soldiers? And Hamas, which has
an interest to drag Israeli into a ground battle that will lead to more
dead Palestinian civilians, welcomes the media's role in convincing
Israelis that as far as public image goes, they have nothing to lose by
escalation. At the end of the day, not only Israel is harmed -- the
Gazans are also paying a heavy price.
Just like Israel
constantly examines its own actions, reporters covering the war must
take a good look in the mirror. They must not allow themselves to be the
partners in crime of Hamas' murderous strategy that seeks to
delegitimize Israel and perpetuate the civilian suffering in Gaza.
Dr. Michael Oren is the Abba
Eban chair in international diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center in
Herzliya and is a former Israeli ambassador to the United States.
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