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Israel Must Unite to Fight Hamas’ Terror and Propaganda War
US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are escorted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists and Islamic Jihad terrorists as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
In traditional warfare, the battlefield is clear. You see the enemy. You hear the sirens. You count the missiles. But Israel, as always, faces a war that blurs the lines between military strategy and emotional sabotage –a war not only on the ground, but deep within the psyche of a nation.
Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror organization ruling Gaza, has mastered one of modern conflict’s darkest arts: psychological warfare. They have turned the Internet into a weapon. Videos of hostages — terrified, manipulated, humiliated — are not just propaganda. They are strategically deployed weapons of emotional devastation.
But this battle is not about videos alone. It’s about the manipulation of compassion, the exploitation of democratic discourse, and the destabilization of a society through empathy.
The Weaponization of Compassion
Israel is a nation of deep moral conscience. It grieves loudly. It fights to protect the innocent. It prioritizes human life in ways that its enemies weaponize against it.
Hamas understands this. Every video of a hostage, especially before a key vote, holiday, or diplomatic event, is timed like a sniper’s bullet. It’s not random. It’s a message: We control your emotions. We control your narrative.
These releases are not for humanitarian updates. They are crafted to inflict maximum psychological trauma, not only on the hostages’ families, but on Israeli society as a whole.
Fear Without Fire: The Modern Terror Strategy
The goal is not to kill Israelis with bombs, but to paralyze them with fear, guilt, and self-doubt. No less deadly. No less effective. Only cheaper and harder to fight.
Every parent in Israel sees their own child in those trembling faces. Every partner sees their loved one behind those haunted eyes. Hamas wants Israel to implode from within, to become so emotionally torn that it can no longer function rationally in the global arena or on the battlefield.
The psychological assault spreads far beyond the hostages:
- Families are caught between agony and helplessness.
- Protesters, driven by despair, inadvertently empower the very terrorists holding their loved ones.
- Governments are pushed to make concessions that could cost more lives long-term.
Emotional Blackmail in High Definition
Unlike in past wars, Hamas doesn’t need international media to spin a story. It broadcasts its own theater of cruelty. And it knows exactly how the world, and particularly Israel, will respond.
The demand is always the same: make a deal. Give us convicted murderers. Give us PR victories. Give us control.
But what seems like a “deal” is, in reality, a trap. Each concession is a message to Hamas: kidnapping works. And so, the next round begins before the last one ends.
Israel is thus caught in an impossible loop: damned if it acts, damned if it doesn’t. That is the very nature of terror’s psychological grip.
The Role of the Protests
Israelis are a passionate, democratic people. Their instinct to protest, to demand answers, is admirable. But in this context, it becomes a double-edged sword.
Every protest that demands a hostage deal at any cost, signals to Hamas that their strategy is working. That the emotional toll they’ve placed on Israeli society is tightening.
This isn’t to blame the families. Their pain is unimaginable. But it is a wake-up call for the public: don’t let your heart be hijacked by those who would use it against you.
Global Silence, Global Complicity
When ISIS broadcasted beheadings, the world rightly recoiled. When Al-Qaeda used hostages for leverage, international pressure followed. But when Hamas engages in the same barbarity, veiled in the language of “resistance,” much of the world remains quiet.
Why?
Because Hamas understands how to manipulate Western sensitivities. They present themselves as victims. Their hostage videos are not just meant for Israelis, but for the world — designed to cast Israel as cruel, regardless of its actions. Designed to portray terrorists as humanitarians, and a democratic state as inhumane.
It’s the darkest inversion of truth, and yet it works far too often.
The Real Battlefield: National Resilience
This war will not be won with firepower alone. It will be won with clarity, unity, and moral resolve. The Israeli government must continue to act with wisdom and strength, never caving to emotional extortion, no matter how painful.
And the Israeli people must remain steadfast. Empathy must not become a vulnerability. Compassion must not be surrendered to manipulation.
The terrorists want Israelis to believe they are alone. That their government has failed. That unity is futile. But nothing terrifies Hamas more than a nation that refuses to be broken.
This Is A War For The Soul
The face of modern terrorism is not always masked. Sometimes, it stares straight into the camera, crying for help, while behind the scenes, its captors smile at the chaos they’ve unleashed.
We must be strong enough to see the whole picture.
Israel is not just defending its citizens. It is defending truth, morality, and the value of life itself against an enemy that celebrates death and deceit.
This is a war for the soul. And it will be won not only with courage on the battlefield, but with clarity of purpose at home.
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.
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US Sen. Tom Cotton Pushes IRS to Review CAIR’s Nonprofit Status, Citing Ties to Terrorist Groups
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has urged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to launch an investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claiming the nonprofit advocacy group has longstanding ties to terrorist organizations including Hamas.
In a letter to IRS Commissioner Billy Long dated Aug. 4, Cotton asserted that CAIR, which is registered as a nonprofit charitable organization that purports to protect the rights of American Muslims, has “deep ties to terrorist organizations.” Cotton pointed to what he described as “substantial evidence” from past government exhibits and public statements by CAIR officials, including its founding connections and remarks by its current leadership.
“Recent news and longstanding evidence demonstrate CAIR’s ties to terrorist organizations, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and their activities,” Cotton wrote.
While Hamas is a US-designated terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood has not been proscribed as such, although lawmakers in Congress recently introduced legislation to designate the global Islamist movement, which has been banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Austria.
In his letter, Cotton called on the IRS to conduct a full review of CAIR’s financial records, affiliations, and operations to determine whether the organization continues to meet the legal requirements of its tax-exempt status.
Citing a 2008 case, the largest terrorism-financing case in US history, Cotton said CAIR had been listed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee. CAIR was infamously named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas. Cotton also referred to government trial exhibits indicating CAIR’s founders participated in meetings with Hamas supporters in Philadelphia.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
Beyond past associations, Cotton pointed to more recent comments from CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad. In a 2023 speech following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, Awas said he was “happy to see” Palestinians “breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.” Cotton cited the remark as evidence of CAIR’s alignment with violent extremist rhetoric.
“These connections are not mere historical footnotes,” Cotton wrote, accusing CAIR of engaging in activities inconsistent with its stated mission of civil rights advocacy. He argued that 501(c)(3) organizations should not be permitted to operate under tax-exempt status if they are involved in or supportive of terrorism.
The IRS has not publicly responded to Cotton’s letter.
CAIR did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story but replied to Cotton on the X social media platform.
“Is that the best you’ve got, Tom? We figured your handlers would have given you something better to work worth, not debunked conspiracy theories and half-baked legal arguments,” CAIR posted. “Unlike [Cotton], our civil rights organization defends the Constitution, including its guarantees of free speech and religious freedom. Also, unlike Tom Cotton, we oppose injustice here and abroad, from hate crimes to terrorism to ethnic cleansing to genocide. That’s why we speak out against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and why we spoke out against attacks on civilians in Israel on Oct. 7th. Receipts below. This is called moral consistency, Tom. You should try it. Make sure to ask AIPAC first, though.”
AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.
Cotton’s letter comes amid growing scrutiny of Middle Eastern and Muslim advocacy organizations as the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza and antisemitic hate crimes surge across the West.
The senator has spearheaded multiple efforts to tackle antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment within the US. Earlier this year, for example, Cotton introduced the “No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act” and “Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST),” legislation which would penalize students and universities that spread pro-terrorist ideologies.
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Antisemitic Incidents Spiked in UK After Bob Vylan’s ‘Death to the IDF’ Chants at Glastonbury
Police officers block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in protest against Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
There was a recorded rise in antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom the day after the English punk rap duo Bob Vylan called for the death of Israeli soldiers at the Glastonbury Festival in June, according to the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters.
CST on Wednesday published a new report detailing antisemitic incidents recorded from January to June 2025. The report stated that the highest daily total for such outrages in the first half of 2025 was 26 reported on June 29, 16 of which took place online.
On June 28, Bob Vylan vocalist Pascal Robinson-Foster led thousands in the audience to chant “Death, Death to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces, during the band’s set at the Glastonbury music and arts festival in Somerset, England. The performance was livestreamed by the BBC.
CST said the 26 incidents reported to the charity on June 29 involved “anti-Jewish responses” to events at Glastonbury, and CST’s statement on X that described Bob Vylan’s anti-IDF chants as “utterly chilling” and “an expression of mass hatred.”
The second worst day for “anti-Jewish hatred” in the first half of the year was May 17, when 19 incidents were recorded just a day after Israel announced the expansion of its military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to CST’s new report.
“In all of these incidents, anti-Jewish language, motivation, or targeting was evident alongside the rhetoric linked to Israel or Zionism,” CST said. “Both of these cases [on June 29 and May 17] illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric towards Israel and Zionism influence, shape, and drive contemporary anti-Jewish discourse, online and offline, often around totemic events that grab mainstream public attention.”
Because of their anti-IDF comments, Bob Vylan was dropped by their talent agency, as well as festivals and concerts worldwide. The duo also had their US visas revoked, and police in the UK launched an investigation to see if the band’s anti-IDF comments are a criminal offense.
The BBC apologized for broadcasting Bob Vylan’s “offensive and deplorable behavior” in their Glastonbury performance, during which Robinson-Foster also complained about working for a “f—king Zionist” and chanted “Free, free Palestine.”
According to Wednesday’s report, the CST recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.
Fifty-one percent of all antisemitic incidents in the first half of this year “referenced or were linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack (on Oct. 7, 2023) or the subsequent outbreak of conflict,” CST noted. The group also recorded 73 antisemitic assaults in the first half of the year – with an additional three physical attacks categorized as “extreme violence” – and 572 cases of online antisemitism.
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Members of IDF’s New Ultra-Orthodox Brigade Complete Combat Training
Members of the Hasmonean Brigade during their beret ceremony at the Western Wall on Aug. 6, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
The first set of troops from the Israel Defense Force’s new ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade completed seven months of basic and advanced training on Wednesday morning, when they received their dark blue berets during a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
“The army and the Torah go together, shoulder to shoulder. One strengthens the other, ” Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth wrote in a post on X, congratulating the troops. “I bless the ‘Hasmonean’ Brigade – the first ultra-Orthodox brigade in the IDF, which completed its training course today and, in an emotional ceremony at the Western Wall, received their beret. Only together will we triumph.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also congratulated the troops, saying that “there is nothing more Jewish than defending the land of Israel.”
Israel’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology Gila Gamliel added in a post on X that troops in the Hasmonean Brigade are “paving the way for combining faith with courage.”
“You are a symbol of dedication, mission, and contribution to the nation, and you light the path for all of us toward Israel’s unity,” she added. “Your brigade is proof that one can preserve identity while defending the homeland.”
The beret ceremony on Wednesday morning was attended by Shin Bet director and Maj. Gen. David Zini, who was crucial in the creation of the brigade, and brigade commander Col. Avinoam Emunah. Fifty ultra-Orthodox troops did a “beret march” that started in the hills of Jerusalem and ended at the Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem before the start of the ceremony. They blew shofars and sang songs calling for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, according to Israel’s Arutz 7.
Members of the brigade live a Haredi lifestyle both inside and outside the army and are given special accommodations, such as at least an hour of learning Talmud every day. Around 2,700 Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox Jews, have joined the army over the past year, according to Israeli media reports.