A few weeks ago, Palestinian terrorists entered an Israeli family’s home and slaughtered most of them, including small children and a 3-month-old baby. That event shocked the state of Israel and was supposed to shock the entire world in its brutality, but TV networks around the world reported that attack in a shameful way. CNN talked about an “alleged terrorist attack,” and networks in Germany didn’t even bother to report the event at all. I was not surprised, knowing the media’s approach toward Israel; but it made me think about how terrorists organizations use the media in such a way that eventually causes incitement against Israel.
We are living in an era of free and fast Information. It is not always accurate but you can always find it. That tool is helping countries and organizations, but it also helps terrorist groups. They know that public opinion is very important in democracies. As I see it, there are three ways these groups use the media. One is directed at their own followers. The purpose is to gain legitimacy by sending the message that they are winning and getting good results. For example, the Hamas organization in Gaza teaches small children how to be Shahids (die a martyr death by killing Israelis) and spreads lies about Israel, including anti-Semitic messages. They want the people in Gaza to know that they need Hamas and that it’s the only organization that can save them.
The second way they use the media is against their victims. The goal is to spread fear so that the citizens of Israel will put pressure on the government to give up. Photos from Gaza of people celebrating after suicide attacks on Israel, or what Hamas is doing regarding Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier are only two examples.
And finally, they use the media to rally world-wide condemnation of Israel. We see how Hamas presents the marine blockade on Gaza, which they claim is leaving the people of Gaza without food. But “forget” to mention that the people in Gaza get tons of food through Israel. They ignore the fact that more weapons and missiles have been shipped into Gaza from Iran, as we saw with the ship Victoria a few weeks ago. Palestinian organizations have succeeded in convincing the world that Israel is a ruthless country. All the Palestinians have to do is send a fabricated picture to a major newspaper of a child who died and say that it was done by the Israelis. By the time someone checks the authenticity of the picture, it has already became a symbol.
The tragedy is that Hamas is doing such a “good” job of manipulating the media that people rarely want to hear what the Israelis have to say or, are interested to learn about the good things that Israel is doing for the world.
We tend to forget the meaning of fighting terror, and how different it is from a “regular” war. In fighting terror, civilians play a crucial role, especially if the country that suffers that terror is a democratic country.
In order to avoid being influenced by the information that is given to the media, often from the terrorists’ perspective, we have to learn more about the issues and events. Information today is like fast food. We need it here and now to satisfy the need to always know what is going on. But like fast food, it is not always “made” from the best ingredients, or in our case, the truth! In order to make up our minds about current events, we need to work harder to make sure that information is based on fact. One suggestion is to read articles from the Israeli media, too, in order to understand both sides. Two good sources are Ynet or Haaretz online.
We see the successes of the Palestinian organizations, especially in a lot of American colleges and universities. There, many anti- Israel groups are using aggressive methods to explain their perspective. They organize rallies that demonstrate against speakers from Israel. Unfortunately many Jewish students find themselves dealing with that challenge in addition to others. We have to ask ourselves if our children are ready to handle these issues. Do they have the tools to cope with the situation?
In order to give teenagers (grades 10-12) the facts and strategies to respond to “Israel bashing,” the Jewish Federation, AIPAC, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, JCRB/AJC, KU Hillel and JSU will sponsor a workshop on from 7 to 9 p.m. April 7 at the Jewish Community Campus. Our goal is to prepare them for the reality of anti-Israel activities on some of our campuses. Together we can show them a different side than what they see in the media, so that they can make up their minds about the situation based on the facts.
For more information about this event, contact me at (913) 327-8124.
