Electronic media as a weapon of political warfare: Hamas' strategy

Confiscated AP equipment (Ministry of Communications spokesperson)

Recently, the role of foreign media has been in the news. In early April, the Israeli government temporarily closed Al-Jazeera and briefly suspended the activities of AP, which provided it with live news.

According to Communications Minister Shlomo Karchi, live broadcasts of troop deployments posed a security problem. Defenders of the network argued for the “essential role that journalism plays in a democracy.” At the same time, transmitting live information from the battlefield can have dangerous consequences that the other side can exploit to advantage.

General Vo Nguyen Giap, who led the forces of North Vietnam to victory, manipulated Western media in a way that turned the freedom and vulnerability of an open democratic society to his advantage. He skillfully used the medium of television (with the help of enthusiastic American aides) to undermine American support for the Vietnam War.

General Giap said: “In 1968, I realized that I could not defeat the 500,000 American troops deployed in Vietnam. I couldn't defeat the Seventh Fleet, with its hundreds of planes, but I could bring back images to the Americans that would make them want to stop the war. »

In June 1989, American historian William M. Hammond published an article entitled “The Press in Vietnam, Agent of Defeat.” He cited General Westmoreland who said in 1972 that “modern technology provided the press with a means of indirectly involving the American public in the war on an almost hourly basis.” He revealed to the American public the naked, uncensored truth about the war.

Over time, the cumulative pressure of antiwar protests, fueled by television news from Vietnam, became a major domestic problem that destabilized the U.S. government. In 1972, Henry Kissinger told Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin: “…For us it is [Vietnam] it is not just an international problem; it has now become a major domestic problem. We cannot allow our national structure to be constantly tormented by this country ten thousand kilometers from us…”

Looking at the bigger picture, the effect of electronic media coverage is extremely important because it undermines domestic support for the adversary. This is a sort of overrun operation, and the experience of the American demonstrations against the war in 1968 shows that it has proven to be extremely effective.

Faced with the reality of 2024, it is easy to understand how the enemies of Israel and the United States are using the same “indirect strategy” as that employed by the North Vietnamese in the 1960s and early 1960s. -ten. It doesn't take much imagination to understand how this game is played.

In fact, with the Internet and social media, it has become more sophisticated. The fundamental aim of the war against Israel is to separate it from its traditional hinterland (and diaspora communities), which are among its sources of support. Additionally, Breitbart reported on May 17 that Republican Senator Ted Cruz said that “the Biden administration must investigate reports that Communist China and Cuba are directly funding and influencing radical left organizations to incite anti-war protests.” -Israeli and anti-American throughout the United States. Cruz noted that “the goal of these externally funded subversion campaigns is to create chaos, weaken the country and 'tear us apart.'

Simply put, the United States, in its own right, has become the target of the same type of strategy that has been used for years by Israel's enemies against its spirit of national unity and resilience that has made it strong.

Although our information is incomplete, there are clear indications that the trend of externally funded subversion campaigns against the United States and Israel will increase in scale and intensity.