Israel needs to change the channel – and change its leader

Someone really needs to reacquaint Benjamin Netanyahu with the 1988 Hamas Charter. Quickly. 

In particular, they need to show the Israeli Prime Minister articles 10 and 30. In those, in their governing document, Hamas says that it will use “word and deed” to wage Jihad – which has come to mean holy war. 

Article 30 is pretty specific: “Jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy. The effective word, the good article, the useful book, support and solidarity – all these are elements of the Jihad for Allah’s sake.”

In other words, propaganda. What the terror organization is telling everyone, here, is that they wage war with words and images just as much as bombs and bullets. Implicitly, Hamas has always acknowledged that their desired genocide of Jews and infidels is a daunting military challenge. Propaganda, however, is Hamas’ real forte. At that, they excel.

So, in the information war, Hamas – and its axis, with Hezbollah and Iran and Qatar and Russia and China – is winning. You only need to cast your eye over the offerings of most news or social media – or look at what is happening in the streets – to see that is true. Israel is losing the propaganda war. It is getting its ass kicked.

Netanyahu is a big part of the reason. Israel’s leader is propped up by a coalition of far right religious extremists, and adamantly refuses to let anyone else speak for Israel in the West. He has been in power too long, and the majority – inside and outside of Israel – are weary of him.

But Benjamin Netanyahu alone cannot be fairly blamed for all of the grave harm that has been done to Israel’s reputation. Hamas is the main author of that.

Since the beginnings of the war in late October 2023, Hamas’ propagandists have completely dominated the news and information agenda. When an IDF tank moves through Gaza streets, for example, Hamas typically sends out four men: two to attach explosives to the side of the tank, one to guard the getaway – and one to shoot broadcast quality propaganda footage.

Even with its leadership and its ranks decimated, Hamas and its axis never give up on propagandizing. Look at the evidence.

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