Hamas vs Israel: Who’s Winning the Global Perception War?
Most of the UN member states have grown increasingly concerned with Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip amid a mounting death toll of Palestinian civilians.
SputnikWhile the international community was nearly unanimous in condemning the attack by Hamas against Israel in its immediate aftermath this month, the military retaliation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) seems to have tilted global public opinion against Tel Aviv to a great degree.
According to Gaza Health Ministry figures, close to 8,800 Palestinians have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the IDF began its strikes. Other governments and humanitarian groups have warned of a worsening death toll in coming days as the
IDF gradually begins its ground invasion in the region.
Much like Israel, US President Joe Biden has urged the global community not to trust the death toll of Palestinians released by Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.
If last week's vote at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly was any indication of the evolving global opinion, a staggering 120 countries voted in favor of a Jordanian proposal for an "immediate, sustained humanitarian truce".
Significantly, a Canada-backed amendment to the Jordanian resolution condemning the Hamas' attack couldn’t be adopted by the UNGA.
The US voted against the Jordanian resolution, while most of the developing nations of Asia, South America and Africa voted in favour of a ceasefire.
The global outrage
against IDF’s military retaliation, which has been described as “disproportionate” and “collective punishment” by several countries in Israel’s neighbourhood, has only expanded this week.
Bolivia announced on Tuesday that it has “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip.”
Two other South American nations—Columbia and Chile—have recalled their respective Ambassadors from Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, in the US, which has backed "Israel’s right to defend itself all along", the Biden administration is facing increasing pressure to convince Israel for a ceasefire.
A group of nine Democratic lawmakers, comprising Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush among others, have been vocal in demanding a ceasefire.
On the streets of the US, massive pro-Palestine demonstrations have been taking place across different cities. Similar demonstrations have taken place in European capitals, in spite of the fact that western allies have followed in the US footsteps to firmly back Israel.
Pro-Palestine Sentiment on Social Media
The visible pro-Palestine sentiment being witnessed around the world is being matched on social media platforms, reports suggest.
According to Axios, around 285 million TikToK users viewed around 87,000 posts with hashtags #standwithPalestine between 23 October and 30 October.
Only 64 million users viewed some 9,000 TikToK posts with hashtags #standwithIsrael.
Retired Indian Ambassador Anil Trigunayat, who has served as New Delhi’s envoy to the Middle-East, told Sputnik India that social media has definitely added to the “sharpness of grey zone warfare”.
Trigunayat noted that “narrative-building” during a war has become a constant and an “ever-increasing effort”.
“In war, civilian casualties, especially that of women, children and the sick and their visuals, play an important role in forming public opinion and perhaps in that sense Palestinians currently may be having an edge. But the course of this war between a state and a non-state actor is still not over,” stated Trigunayat.
He said that one could expect novel strategies from both the parties to “justify their narratives” and form an “international public opinion to their advantage”.
‘Israel Lost the War of Perception’: Pro-Palestine Activist
Feroze Mithiborwala, who heads the India-Palestine Solidarity Forum, told Sputnik India that Israel had already lost the “war of perception” to Palestine.
“It is not that history started on 7 October. The killings of Palestinians by IDF and illegal settlers in Gaza and West Bank has been taking place for years. Israel has been flouting international law and UN resolutions and expanding its illegal settlements, while ignoring efforts towards achieving a two-state solution,” Mithiborwala said.
The pro-Palestinian activist noted that even opeds in Israeli mainstream media, including in Haaretz,
blamed Netanyahu’s right-wing policies for precipitating the current crisis.
The activist stated that in spite of the pro-Israel line taken by American and western mainstream media, most of the people were being made aware about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza through social media.
“Many of the people around the world are shocked to see what they are witnessing. It is like a massacre of Muslims which is taking place in Gaza,” he said.
Mithiborwala noted that the “anti-war movement” which is taking shape in the US is arguably the biggest of its kind under a Democratic Party government.
“Millions of Americans are expected to participate in a pro-Palestine march in Washington DC on 4 November. This would be the biggest pro-Palestine march in history,” the Indian activist noted.