After the October 7 massacre, the international community was shocked by the harsh atrocities committed by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Palestinian civilians who participated in the massacre.
Hamas has been compared to ISIS and the Nazis, which has given Israel broad international support and credit for acting in Gaza to topple Hamas and bring the hostages back home.
Israeli advocacy found a sympathetic ear since most members of the international community could not support the Palestinian side that committed these inhumane atrocities.
Hamas and the Palestinians were in trouble. How will they be able to correct the world consciousness that now classifies them in one line with the Nazis and ISIS? Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority realized that to win this war, they would have to use the card that the Palestinians have been using for years - the card of perception to smear Israel's legitimacy in the world.
Although the incitement to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews continues unceasingly in Arabic, in the ears of the international community there is a different melody.
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In recent months, senior officials of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas used statements of "reverse advocacy."
This advocacy is based on one simple method: the use of terminology in which all the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 and testimonies of hostages who returned from captivity are used to accuse Israel.
What is the Palestinian reverse advocacy?
The Palestinians use core concepts from the Israeli narrative of October 7 and turn it into a Palestinian narrative.
Hamas is attentive to the Israeli public's soft spots and recognizes the international reaction to the Israeli narrative after October 7.
In December 2023, Hamas used the symbolic date, October 7 as the day the attack on Gaza began, "the day the attack on our people began."
This is how the murderous organization tries to obscure the symbolic date of the horrible massacre it carried out against Israel and makes the date symbolic for the Palestinians as "the day Israel attacked the Palestinians."
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'The reality of female prisoners in Sharon prison: Severe beatings and torture, shameful (physical) examination'
(Illustration: daffamedia)
Additionally, the organization calls the terrorists apprehended by Israel "detainees," saying that among them are women, elderly and children (similar to the description of the Israeli hostages who were held by Hamas and released) "and they are subjected to the most terrible conditions."
Hamas recognizes the humanitarian motive that also influences international public opinion and uses this to its advantage. It calls those prisoners, among them terrorists with blood on their hands, "detainees" who "disappeared," as a kind of kidnapping of “innocent Palestinians” by Israeli forces.
Hamas launches its brutal assault, turns it over and presents itself as the victim:
- Israel attacked on October 7 (using October 7 as a symbolic date, like 9/11, only in reverse).
- Calling the arrest of terrorists and Hamas supporters’ "disappearance" or kidnapping - turning the narrative so that Israel kidnaps Palestinians as opposed to the kidnapping of Israeli citizens held by Hamas.
- Hamas presents false information that Israel keeps women, elderly people and children in extremely difficult conditions.
This was propagated after last November's hostage deal in which Israeli women, elderly and children were released from the hands of Hamas. Hamas recognizes the effect of combining these groups to construct a new narrative: Israel is "the aggressor", kidnapping women, elderly people and children.
Moreover, Hamas officials use the word "Nazi" in their statements to describe Israel and its actions to break the comparison of Hamas to the Nazis and turn the equation on its head so that Israel is the one compared to the Nazis.
In his January 2024 speech, Hamas official Osama Hamdan made sure to use the terms "Nazi aggression" and the "war of extermination" that Israel is waging, to describe what is happening in Gaza.
Additionally, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the office of Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, said that the "series of daily killing crimes" of the IDF in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is a comprehensive “war of extermination against the Palestinian people.”
Palestinian officials from the PLO and Hamas use the terms "extermination" and "Holocaust" to strengthen the influence on public opinion that Israel is committing a "Holocaust" against the Palestinian people. They try to create the perception among the international community of "How can the Jewish people, who went through the Holocaust, perpetrate a holocaust on other people?"
In January 2024, Hamas started a campaign on social media using female terrorists imprisoned by Israel for its counter-propaganda. It published various posts in which the "Palestinian women inmates" are described as experiencing abuse in prisons and that they are "in danger." Moreover, Hamas detailed the "abuses" that Palestinian women suffer in Israeli prisons: "Severe beatings and torture, shameful (physical) examination" and more.
Eran LahavThe cynical use of humanitarian motifs that pull on the heartstrings of the international community plays into the hands of the Palestinians when they try to absolve themselves of guilt for the October 7 massacre and frame Israel as the "bad guy" in the story.
The PLO and Hamas officials are united in their efforts to change the discourse regarding the war in Gaza. Although for the Palestinians, Hamas is the one who brought the "achievement" of South Africa's petition against Israel at the ICJ, the PLO is trying to align itself with this "genocide" blood libel and hamstring Israel in the international arena. This action by the Palestinian Authority is added to its long-standing activity to fight Israel: using the international community to eliminate Israel's legitimacy in the world.
- Eran Lahav is a researcher at the Israel Defense and Security Forum - the IDSF, specializing in terrorism, global Jihad and Iranian proxies, an entrepreneur and podcast host.