Social Media Has Won In Israel-Gaza Bloody Conflict, Exposing Western Narrative
New Age Islam Staff Writer
24 October 2023
Western Narrative Against Palestine Has Been Exposed By
The Social Media
Main Punts:
1.
Israel and the US
have again played self -defence card to justify their crackdown on Palestine.
2.
UK Labour Party
leader justified cutting off water and electricity to Palestinians.
3.
Gallup survey 48 per
cent democrats showed sympathy with Palestinians.
4.
Only 38 per cent
sympathised with Israel.
5.
Jewish anti-Zionist
groups protested against Israeli attacks on Gaza in New York.
6.
Many Americans have
lost jobs foe showing solidarity with Palestinians.
------
In the following article from Wire, Ms Sarayu Pani exposes
the old US-Strategy to use self-defence excuse against Islamic nations. In
2001, the US had attacked Afghanistan in self defence after 9/11 and later
destroyed Iraq and hanged Saddam Hussain in self defence. When its mission was
accomplished, Blair said it was a mistake. Libya was the next victim of
American self defence. In fact, the US and Israel very cunningly removed all
rulers from the Middle East who could pose a threat to Israel and the interests
of the US in the region. And self-defence was the best plea. They cooked up
'weapons of mass destruction' with Saddam Hussain to apply their self- defence
strategy on Iraq. Iraq was subsequently destroyed. Had Saddam been in power
today, the scene in Gaza would have been different.
It is correct that the social media has played a pivotal
role in changing the Palestine narrative promoted in the West by the Israeli
media and the US. During Saddam Hussain 's time, CNN and BBC formed the
narrative. In the current conflict too, the western media has been subtly
spreading falsehood and propaganda, but the wide reach and credibility of the
social media have exposed their lies. People have been able to sift through
propaganda because they have become internet savvy and know which social media
or media platforms are reliable and which are not. This is why, Israeli media's
lie about Hamas slitting the throats of 40 children fell flat within hours.
Again the same propaganda of chemical weapons in possession of Hamas is being
spread by the western media. The US had tried to attack Syria over the lie of
the use of chemical weapons but failed as the lie was exposed.
Today, the documentation of sufferings of Palestinians by
sincere journalists working in Gaza and by civilians capturing the Israeli
attacks on hospitals and residential buildings, cries and groans of injured
children, children running to escape Israeli bombings and ded bodies of
children in the hands of their fathers has sent shock waves across the world.
People have protested in millions in New York, London and other cities of
Europe. In London, 100,000 people protested in favour of the Palestinians.
Anti-Zionist Jews have protested against the illegal Israeli occupation of Gaza
and bombing of civilians. They said, "not in our name."
In view of the growing support of the Christians and Jews
for the Palestinians, the European governments have criminalised the show of
solidarity with Palestinians France has banned pro- Palestine protests.
According to a recent survey, 66 per cent of the Americans demanded an
immediate ceasefire and de-escalation of war between Israel and Hamas. But will
the US and Israel agree to halt this war before it triggers the third world
war?
------
By Sarayu Pani
24 October 2023
For people old enough to remember September 2001, the past
fortnight has been one of déjà vu. A horrific attack of violence perpetrated on
civilians, followed by a near hysterical period of rhetorical scrambling by
Western politicians about “self-defence” and the myriad actions that might be
brought under the umbrella of this term.
Damage in the Gaza
Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Palestinian News & Information
Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages/Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
------
In 2001, as the world watched, the laws of self-defence were
expanded to include the non-state actor, Al Qaeda, and Afghanistan, the state
harbouring the non-state actor.
The US invasion also upended what the West said they
believed were universal human rights – torture, extra-territorial rendition
(the kidnap and the export of prisoners to other jurisdictions for
interrogation) and the indefinite detention of prisoners without trial or release
became commonplace.
In 2003, the US and the UK convinced everyone and themselves
that Saddam Hussein was sitting on a pile of “weapons of mass destruction”. An
invasion of Iraq, they said, was the only way for them to “defend” themselves.
Self-defence was stretched once more (goodbye, imminence) and Iraq was invaded.
Last week, many Western leaders outdid themselves in a “what
war crime is actually just self-defence” contest. UK Labour Party leader Kier
Starmer went on live television and said that the Israelis had the right to
turn off water and power to civilians in Gaza.
And when asked if he would ask the Israelis to end the
collective punishment of Gaza civilians by Israel, British PM Rishi Sunak
responded with:
“I actually believe that we should support Israel’s right to
defend itself and to go after Hamas and recognising that they (Israel) face a
vicious enemy that embeds itself behind civilians.”
US President Joe Biden, whose rhetoric about “freedom” and
the US’s role in the world has sounded increasingly like a throwback tape out
of 2001, has refused to hold Israel accountable for any actions that human
rights groups have termed war crimes and seems to have no ability or will to
influence Israel to respect even the most basic humanitarian norms for
Palestinian civilians.
But while the rhetoric is reminiscent of the post-9/11 days,
it is useful to remember that the world is not the same.
The United States never fully recovered its pre-9/11
position or credibility and its own internal systemic brutality is less hidden
than it used to be. Young Americans, well versed in analysing the expressions
of this systemic brutality in print, have become far more savvy than previous
generations in sifting through propaganda.
Social media nitpicking has also made people hyper-aware of
the tricks newspapers use to dehumanise, like using passive voice when
reporting people killed by airstrikes, or routinely holding only one side
accountable for acts of violence against civilians. People getting their
Palestinian history from TikTok may not quite be getting the full picture, they
are still getting more than they otherwise would have in the United States.
I had written in 2021 about social media changing
Palestinian narratives in the US. In Gallup polling conducted in March 2023,
49% of democrats said their sympathies lay with the Palestinian people and only
38% said their sympathies lay with Israel. This marks a significant shift in
American public opinion which had hitherto uncritically supported Israel across
party lines.
In the aftermath of October 7, despite heavy crackdowns in
which students have been accused of anti-Semitism, doxxed and have lost job
offers, and immigrants have been threatened with the cancellation of their
visas, the pushback against Israeli narratives in the West has been strong. And
it has gone beyond Palestinian or Arab voices.
Jewish anti-Zionist groups have organised sit-ins in the
Capitol demanding a ceasefire and a series of pro-Palestinian rallies in New
York and other American cities have drawn unprecedented numbers.
Across Europe, governments have done their best to curb
expressions of support for the Palestinian people, and yet, these have largely
failed. France banned pro-Palestine protests, and yet a protest held in the
aftermath of the ban drew immense crowds. Yesterday, the London metropolitan
police confirmed that at least 100,000 attended a protest in London to show
their support for the Palestinian cause.
And added to all of this has been the constant and extremely
painful documentation of the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza by
journalists based in Gaza who have not stopped telling their stories despite
facing bombardment, hunger, thirst and homelessness.
Despite the longstanding dehumanisation of the Palestinian
people in the Western media narrative, this has not been without impact. In a
poll conducted on October 20 in the United States, 66% of voters across party
lines said that they supported the US calling for an immediate ceasefire and a
de-escalation of violence in Gaza.
And yet, none of this has managed to call a halt to the
ongoing brutality faced by Palestinian civilians. Twenty-five percent of all
civilian houses in Gaza have been destroyed. According to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health, 4,385 civilians have been killed, including 1,750 children
in the last two weeks alone and close to a million people have been internally
displaced.
Food, water, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza remain
entirely cut (with the exception of 20 trucks of humanitarian aid that passed
through the Egyptian border) and Israeli airstrikes have severely damaged
cultural heritage including one of the oldest churches in the world.
The Western world terms this “a humanitarian crisis” but it
is increasingly difficult to argue that this is not an ongoing campaign of
ethnic cleansing.
It is a stark reminder that while narratives can and do
change over time, they have not changed quickly enough for the Palestinian
people.
-----
Sarayu Pani is a former lawyer and tweets @sarayupani.
URL: URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/social-media-israel-gaza-western-narrative/d/130962
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