Hamas: the objectives and allies in the psychological war against the West
In addition to the known and declared support of Iran and Hezbollah, Taliban fighters were also involved in the preparation and implementation of the Hamas attack against Israel. The in-depth analysis by Francesco D'Arrigo, director of the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies “Niccolò Machiavelli”
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine – previously agreed upon by Vladimir Putin with Xi Jinping during the Olympics at the beginning of February 2022, the Moscow – Beijing alliance revealed the project of wanting to create a new world order, overturning the current one on which the development of societies after the Second World War was based, and of which China was the greatest beneficiary.
Therefore, the timing of Hamas's attack on Israel, certainly connected to various regional tactical and strategic factors and objectives, must also be linked to this plan, which has already achieved various results, primarily the sabotage of the Abraham Accords and the of normalization and development of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Israel's predictable reaction to the massacre of thousands of civilians, and the abduction of hundreds of Israelis, Americans and citizens of other nationalities, including hundreds of children, was to declare a "state of war", which represents another result to the benefit of the Russia – China axis, because it obliges the USA and the West to support the defense of the State of Israel and therefore to concentrate military forces on multiple crisis fronts and allocate huge economic resources in addition to those necessary to continue counter Russian aggression in Ukraine. Efforts that will further impact Western public opinions, already severely tested by the socio-economic repercussions of these last few years of crises, pandemics and war in Ukraine. Western public opinion that often becomes an unconscious ally of autocracies, because it is disoriented by a dangerous strategy of disinformation and cognitive warfare that aims to distort reality using media and social platforms, which blame Israel and the West.
As with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, even after the Hamas terrorist attack we are observing a very efficient disinformation and propaganda campaign through the network of official and unofficial communication channels and platforms that the global jihadist network uses to create and amplify its own narrative, which justifies the actual genocide carried out by Hamas as a reaction to the policies of the Israeli government and assimilates Hamas terrorists and their actions to the defense of the Palestinian cause. Nothing could be further from the truth!
It is precisely the Palestinians, and especially those residing in Gaza, who are the victims of the jihadist organization that controls the strip, which uses them as human shields to protect their terrorist activities and their trafficking from the reactions of the IDF.
Hamas does not represent the Palestinians and uses them as real hostages like the Westerners kidnapped during the October 7 attack, who Israel and the US are trying to locate and free before launching the ground attack.
The strategy of totalitarian regimes to overturn the global order
After the war in Ukraine, unleashed by Russia, the Beijing – Moscow axis revealed its plan to create a new world order. The Ukraine crisis has dramatically reinvigorated Russia's plan to counter by all means the enlargement of NATO to countries that were once allies or satellites of the USSR, which China now shares with the aim of countering the United States as the only superpower, which opposes the expansive policies of the Chinese Communist Party and above all staunchly defends the autonomy and freedom of Taiwan. Therefore, even the war against Israel, supported by Iran, is functional to this project aimed at distorting the global geopolitical structure, as it commits the USA and Western democracies to defend the State of Israel, opening a new crisis front to garrison, creating fears and tensions and imposing a further economic and military effort. Factors that will weigh negatively on our economies and public opinions that will go to vote in the coming months.
How is Western public opinion influenced by jihadists?
Hamas and the very powerful jihadist network of which it is part use videos of the atrocities they carry out to influence Israel's decisions, terrorize the Western population, to call all allied organizations and the entire Muslim world "to the holy war" to destroy and erase Israel from geographical maps.
This is real psychological warfare, which is a form of conflict that aims to influence people's perceptions, emotions, attitudes and behaviors in order to achieve political, military and social objectives. The psychological warfare of the jihadist global communication system is conducted through all available means, including propaganda, disinformation, manipulation of public opinion, mental conditioning and fear through the dissemination of videos of their massacres and text messages to fuel proselytism.
The main objective is to influence people's perceptions and decisions, as is happening in several Western cities and universities, trying to gain a strategic advantage. Propaganda is a key tool in terrorist psychological warfare. Through the use of the media, social networks and other communication platforms, information and messages are disseminated that seek to manipulate public opinion, creating the narrative of Israel committing crimes against Palestinians. Disinformation is another tactic used by jihadist organizations, through the spread of false or misleading information to confuse the adversary or create divisions within society. Psychological warfare is used massively by jihadist movements and involves traditional means of communication such as the press, television and radio, but above all new technologies such as the Internet and social media, with the primary objective of influencing perceptions and the emotions of the younger generations.
These days we are all seeing how the videos of the barbaric executions in the kibbuz, the massacres of beheaded children and young people burned alive are disseminated by Hamas, together with the videos of the kidnapped children, to use them as an instrument of their terror strategy.
Does the West fall into this trap?
Absolutely yes! The mass media, for audience reasons, many supporters of the Palestinian cause, especially opinion makers and intellectuals such as the teachers and students of over 300 US universities who have joined the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who evidently have not understood the qualitative leap made by Hamas, fall for their deceptive strategy.
We have seen demonstrations like those of Harvard students, where a coalition of over 30 pro-Palestinian groups at the university issued a statement blaming Israel for "all the ongoing violence", sharing Hamas' narrative that the carnage of October 7th would be a Palestinian defensive reaction, blaming Israel for the conditions of the inhabitants of Gaza, who are in reality perpetual hostages of the terrorist organization that rules the strip.
Hamas does not have military bases, it uses the schools, hospitals, homes and cellars dug in the most populated neighborhoods as such. Therefore, to fight it it is necessary to attack these infrastructures, which when affected are shown on the news, creating discomfort in public opinion, as they are civilian homes, obtaining the maximum advantage from disinformation. Israel, by warning in advance that it will attack these bases, where Hamas terrorists blend in with the population, where thousands of missiles and weapons of all kinds are stored, is not attacking Palestinian civilians, but is trying to limit the victims and damage as much as possible collaterals that the war against the jihadists who hide there inevitably causes.
By denying the Palestinians the evacuation in view of the now inevitable military intervention of the IDF, in addition to using them as human shields, Hamas has no scruples in provoking a bloodbath, in order to accuse Israel of war crimes, fueling its own narrative and anti-Semitism.
Was Israel caught by surprise due to an intelligence failure?
No, unfortunately we are faced with a failure of Israel's entire political, strategic and defense system which has shocked Israeli citizens first and foremost. The Israeli intelligence agencies: the Mossad (responsible for managing intelligence collection in operations abroad), the Shin Bet, (which deals with internal security), and the Aman (the military intelligence of the defense forces) , are among the best in the world, and are able to know exactly what the Palestinians are doing, in detail, thanks to their sophisticated technological espionage systems. But even the most innovative and disruptive technology can be ineffective if the interactions between humans and technologies are not supported by an adequate analysis process and if the political decision maker is not up to the task. Intelligence is never the deciding factor. The responsibilities lie with the political leadership, which brings with it: its strategic sense, the lessons it has drawn from history or previous experiences, the imperatives of internal politics, its own emotions and above all its own political objectives. In the military strategic field, the decision-making process is completely delegated to the political leadership, its analytical capabilities and military doctrine, and cannot be delegated only to the intelligence capabilities, although equipped with the most advanced technological systems.
On this aspect, what does the Hamas attack on Israel teach us?
The terrorist attack revealed the enormous leap in quality and military capabilities of Hamas, which has implemented an absolutely masterful strategy of deception, which it could not have carried out independently, and is such as to demonstrate the direction of state actors who have contributed to planning, supporting from an economic, logistical and military point of view such an invasion plan of the State of Israel. In addition to the well-known and declared support of Iran which continues to threaten Israel, and the disturbing actions of Hezbollah, the methods and brutality of the inhumane massacres of civilians, in my opinion real acts of genocide, reveal the participation in the phases the involvement of Afghan-Taliban foreign fighters in the preparation and implementation of the attack.
According to intelligence information, after numerous telephone calls between Kandahar- Afghanistan and Mashhad-Iran, the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the supreme leader of the Taliban Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzadah to relaunch the recruitment of new fighters and protests for the cause of Hamas . Thus, on the orders of the leader of the Taliban, Sheikh Haibatullah, during Friday prayers in all provinces of Afghanistan, the mullah imams announced their support for Hamas against Israel already before the Friday sermon.
in these hours the Beijing diplomat, Wang Yi, during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir -Abdollahian, released a statement that leaves no doubt about the role of China which: "supports Islamic countries in strengthening the unity and coordination on the Palestinian issue” in order to speak “with one voice”. “The international community should take action to oppose any party's actions that harm civilians,” Wang added, in the Chinese state media report. In summary: Israel must not attack Gaza.
Chinese ambiguity which, in addition to defending its own economic interests (Silk Road), represents a further element in support of the thesis of a coordinated plan of attack against the West carried out by State actors who have chosen Israel, the only true enemy capable of mobilizing millions of Muslims around the world, fueling anti-Semitism, violence, tensions, crises and multidimensional threats. In short, a great risk around Gaza that aims to fuel chaos in Europe, inflaming the already explosive situation in the Mediterranean and Africa.
One last question: is it clear who prodest?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/hamas-alleati-guerra-israele/ on Mon, 16 Oct 2023 05:26:00 +0000.