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How Hamas Manipulates the Media and Controls the Narrative About Israel
A flag is flown during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Throughout the current Israel-Hamas war, HonestReporting has exposed ties between employees of mainstream media organizations and the terrorist rulers of the Gaza Strip.
From freelancers who crossed into southern Israel with Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre, to Palestinian journalists who were honored by Hamas for their collaborative work with the Hamas Government Media Office, there is strong evidence for Hamas’ control and manipulation of the narratives that emerge from the Gaza Strip. This biased messaging helps shape the way that the conflict is reported on around the world.
However, it is not only local Gazan journalists whose work falls under the tyrannical thumb of Hamas.
Throughout its 17 years of control over Gaza, Hamas has also wielded its violent power to censor the reports of foreign journalists and ensure that only news sanctioned by the internationally recognized terror group sees the light of day.
Operation Protective Edge (2014)
There is no better example of this suppression of press freedom than the media guidelines that were released by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge (which occurred from July through August 2014).
According to an August 2014 report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center, both the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior and the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Journalist Bloc released guidelines during the early days of the Operation on how social media users and traditional media personnel located in Gaza should report on the ongoing conflict.
A key instruction by Hamas was to never publish information about or share photos of rockets, so as not to publicize the proximity of rocket launchers to densely populated civilian areas.
Other regulations that Hamas set out for social media users during Operation Protective Edge included the requirement to refer to all killed Gazans as “innocent” (no matter what their involvement was), to never share an up-close photograph of Hamas members, and to describe all Hamas activity as being in response to Israeli actions.
The regulations and their enforcement by Hamas were so severe that even the Foreign Press Association in Israel was forced to release a statement on August 11, 2014, condemning the “blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month.”
According to the Meir Amit Center, by controlling the information coming out of Gaza during the early days of the Operation, Hamas was able to craft a narrative of Israel as an aggressor and the people of Gaza as victims of the Jewish State’s wrath.
However, as the Center notes, there were a number of instances where foreign journalists in Gaza did acknowledge the close proximity of rocket launchers to civilian areas. In some cases, these journalists only publicized their experience once they had left the Gaza Strip (and were outside Hamas’ realm), while others were forced to leave the Strip soon after issuing their reports.
Hamas Issues Strict Rules for Journalists
Operation Protective Edge was not the only time that Hamas sought to wield its coercive power over journalists in the Gaza Strip.
In August 2022, one year after heavy fighting between the IDF and Hamas during Operation Guardian of the Walls, it was reported that Hamas had issued strict rules for Palestinians working with foreign media outlets, including orders not to report on Palestinians killed by errant Hamas rockets, and to blame Israel for hostilities in their reports.
As The Times of Israel reported at the time, these regulations were reversed after an outcry from representatives of foreign media outlets. However, as the media outlet noted:
The rules would have gone much further than existing Hamas restrictions. They appeared aimed at imposing the Islamic group’s narrative on media coverage of the conflict by implicitly threatening Palestinian reporters and translators who live under its heavy-handed rule.
Even if the rules are officially withdrawn, Hamas has still signaled its expectations, which could have a chilling effect on critical coverage, AP reported.
Hamas Sells Its Narrative
Aside from the aforementioned ties between Gazan freelancers and Hamas, as well as the threatening and abuse of journalists who are critical of its terror regime, another way that Hamas has sought to craft the public perception of its current war with Israel is by attempting to sell its narrative to the West, particularly through mainstream media organizations.
In January 2024, the Hamas Media Office published a booklet entitled “Our Narrative … Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” This document, which sought to justify and contextualize the terror group’s October 7 attack against southern Israel, was released in both Arabic and English. The publication of a Hamas document in both languages was unusual, and shows how the group is intent on not only influencing Arab public opinion, but also the opinion of those residing in the West.
“Our Narrative” is a masterpiece of propaganda and misinformation, replete with claims such as:
- Hamas was only attacking military sites and never attacks civilians;
- Many of the victims were killed by Israel and not Hamas;
- This “battle” started 105 years ago, and Hamas was backed into a corner and forced to attack Israel.
Despite being among the key targets of Hamas’ information campaign, most mainstream media outlets ignored its publication at the time.
However, both Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Voice of America (VOA) fell for Hamas’ propaganda machine, and publicized the terror group’s baseless claims, ultimately giving Hamas an air of legitimacy and spreading its extremism to an international audience.
In retrospect, however, given the prevalence of sources branding Hamas as a “national liberation” group, battling “colonialism,” it’s clear that the Hamas narrative has found a receptive audience in too many places.
The Hamas document even called for an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation, preempting the arrest warrants issued against Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Another more subtle way that Hamas cultivates the narrative around the ongoing war with Israel is by releasing unsubstantiated casualty figures as fact under the guise of the Gaza Ministry of Health, which seeks to portray Israel as an aggressor intent on destroying all of Gaza’s Palestinian residents, not just the terrorists embedded within it.
When mainstream media organizations republish these figures, they are helping to spread Hamas propaganda around the world.
Hamas inflates the Gaza death toll, and the media buys it. Here’s how they twist the numbers to mislead the world.
pic.twitter.com/xemTDOAlET
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 15, 2024
Over its 17-year reign in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has sought to manipulate the way that local Palestinians and foreign journalists report on hostilities with the IDF, seeking to control the narrative and sway the minds of uninformed audiences around the world.
Through Hamas’ issuance of constricting media guidelines in 2014 and 2022, its use of violence against opposition journalists, the recently unearthed evidence of collaboration by certain Palestinian freelancers with the terror group, and its propaganda campaigns focused on influencing mainstream media outlets, it is clear that any news emerging from Gaza must be treated with a critical eye and not taken at face value.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post How Hamas Manipulates the Media and Controls the Narrative About Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.