by Sami Hamdi | May 25, 2021
In breaking Israel’s monopoly on the narrative and dispelling its aura of “invincibility,” the Palestinians have delivered two heavy defeats on Netanyahu and the Israeli establishment that neither is likely to ever truly recover from.
People survey rubble from a building previously destroyed in an air-strike following a cease-fire reached after an 11-day war between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel, in Gaza City, May 21, 2021. Palestinians have been able to effectively share images and footage of Israel's brutality with the world. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Israel and Hamas finally reached a ceasefire agreement for the Gaza Strip on May 20, a day after US President Joe Biden implored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek de-escalation, amid mediation attempts by Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations.
In the days prior to the ceasefire, diplomatic efforts had intensified to bring about a de-escalation to the Israeli attacks on Palestinians, which have seen Gaza bombarded, the Holy Mosque of Al-Aqsa stormed with troops, and the residents of Sheikh Jarrah subjected to violent attempts at forcible dispossession of their property and homes.
The conflict, which began in early May, caused a significant loss of life with over 227 Palestinians and 12 Israelis killed. Netanyahu sought to rescue his political career by taking a heavy-handed offensive approach, after failing to form a coalition government. Moreover, the Israeli establishment has escalated its attempts to “ethnically-cleanse” East Jerusalem following stubborn resistance on the part of Palestinians, who refused to relocate despite relentless harassment, arbitrary restrictions, and open provocation including home squatting from more extreme elements of Israeli society.
There is little doubt that Netanyahu will emerge stronger domestically from this recent bout of the decades-long conflict between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinians. It is expected that he will hold onto power through emergency rule before pushing for a new election in order to secure another bid to form a government. The alternative for Netanyahu would be to stand trial on corruption charges, which he is loath to do and therefore keen to maintain immunity.
Netanyahu is likely to experience the political “gains” as a pyrrhic victory in the wider context of how this latest war has unfolded.
However, Netanyahu is likely to experience the political “gains” as a pyrrhic victory in the wider context of how this latest war has unfolded. Indeed, the Palestinians have inflicted two heavy defeats on Israel that the latter is unlikely to ever recover from.
Changing the Narrative
The first resounding victory that the Palestinians have delivered on Netanyahu is the successful breaking of Israel’s monopoly over the narrative, discourse, and terminology with which the wider conflict is often broached. For the first time, the conflict is being discussed through terms that more accurately reflects the realities on the ground. The words “apartheid,” “occupation,” and “colonization” have become normalized in mainstream discussion.
“Apartheid” initially gained traction the month prior to the conflict in a Human Rights Watch report dated April 27, which followed a prior Paper by Israeli Rights Organization B’Tselem released on January 12.
However, it took off after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted “apartheids states aren’t democracies.” Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib also brought the terminology to the Congress floor in May, in what was an undeniably powerful and symbolic moment given the US’ long-standing tradition of providing unquestionable immunity to Israel’s actions in the past. John Oliver used the term in an episode (now removed from the Show’s HBO channel) of the “Last Week Tonight” while an increasing number of celebrities and public personalities – including Mark Ruffalo, Lena Headey, and Roger Waters – have also propagated the language of “apartheid” and “Israeli war crimes.”
The ease with which Palestinians have been able to access social media means that they have been able to bypass the traditional monopolies on information.
This phenomenon has been made possible by the unique circumstances in which Israel’s latest attacks have taken place under. This is the first time that an offensive has been fought in a time of decentralized media. The dominance of social media and the ease with which Palestinians have been able to access it means that they have been able to bypass the traditional monopolies on information, which mainstream media outlets have enjoyed in the past.
Moreover, this is the first time that there is a Palestinian generation who grew up with social media and who is especially attuned to its effectiveness and accustomed to is usage. Palestinians have been able to effectively send videos, live feeds, and images across multiple applications and networks to share with the world. These posts have had such a significant impact on global opinion that an agitated Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz urgently met with Facebook and TikTok executives on May 14 to demand that pro-Palestine content be taken down under the pretext of “incitement” and “hate speech.”
The surge in social media usage by Palestinians has also provided fuel for media outlets to better access information on the ground, further enabling Palestinians to discredit much of the Israeli narrative that has been propagated on mainstream networks. Videos of child victims rendered homeless by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza are now being broadcast by prominent media outlets.
Accordingly, Palestinian commentators who have drawn attention on social media have been invited on prominent platforms such as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and others, to present their narrative against Israeli commentators and former diplomats. Sky News has provided live coverage of Jerusalem with its reporters regularly expressing alarm and dismay at the practices of Israel’s security forces against the local population.
Israel’s frustration at the media coverage has been such that it decided to bomb the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press in Gaza. Though Israel claimed it had provided evidence of Hamas operations in the building to the US, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was swift to deny such claims and told a news conference in Copenhagen that he had seen no such evidence. The Jerusalem Post also published a condemnation of Turkish media that it accused of inciting anti-Israel sentiment.
[Social Media Companies Help Israel Hide Evidence of War Crimes]
[UN Must Act to Halt Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah in Occupied East Jerusalem]
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