Hamas' psychological warfare knows no bounds.
Hamas' psychological warfare knows no bounds.
The terror group is manipulating the Israeli public to pressure its government to bend to Hamas' demands as part of a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. It is psychological warfare at its finest.
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By now you have probably heard the heart-wrenching news: The bodies of six hostages abducted alive by Palestinians on October 7th were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza overnight, shortly after they were murdered by terrorists.
All six hostages were shot multiple times from close range, indicating they were executed, according to Israel’s Health Ministry. The ministry said that the hostages were murdered between 48 and 72 hours before their autopsy, meaning between Thursday and Friday morning.
Among all these details, the key one is that these bodies were not rescued as part of some daring IDF mission. They were strategically murdered and placed in a meaningful area of Gaza where the IDF could easily find them. Even these murdered abductees were chosen methodically; four of them were on the “humanitarian” list of captives and meant to be released in the first stage of a proposed hostage deal.1
The United Nations has not said a word. Neither has the Red Cross. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch do not care either. That should be the main story here.
Instead, the strategy here is disgustingly rather simple: Hamas is trying to manipulate the Israeli public into pressuring the Israeli government to bend to the terror group’s demands as part of a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Psychological warfare — designed to manipulate the perceptions, emotions, and behaviors of both enemy combatants and civilian populations to weaken morale, spread fear, and destabilize societies — is among Hamas’ most effective tactics. After all, the terrorist organization knows that it has no chance against Israel on the actual battlefield.
One of the primary reasons Hamas engages in psychological warfare is to maximize the impact of its actions far beyond the physical damage they cause. By launching rocket attacks indiscriminately into civilian areas, for example, Hamas aims not only to inflict casualties but also to create a pervasive sense of fear and insecurity within Israeli society.
These attacks, often accompanied by threats of further violence, are designed to disrupt daily life, undermine public confidence in the Israeli government’s ability to protect its citizens, and create pressure on Israel to concede to Hamas’ demands.
Additionally, Hamas uses psychological warfare to influence international opinion and rally support within the Palestinian population and the broader Arab and Muslim world. By portraying themselves as defenders of Palestinian rights and victims of Israeli aggression, Hamas seeks to gain sympathy and legitimacy among global audiences gullible enough to not realize that it is Hamas’ aggression which curtails Palestinian rights.
Hamas’ use of psychological warfare also extends to its own population. By controlling the flow of information and using fear tactics against dissenters, Hamas maintains its grip on power in Gaza. The organization employs extensive propaganda to build a culture of resistance, glorifying martyrdom and encouraging the population to endure hardships as part of the struggle against Israel. This helps Hamas maintain its base of support and suppress opposition to its dictatorial rule.
Since October 7th, much of Hamas’ psychological warfare has been centered on the abductees — to prompt as many Israelis as possible, led by the captives’ families, to exert pressure on the Israeli government.
“Hamas believes that by leveraging public sentiment, it can avoid the governmental and military dismantling of its organization,” according to Dr. Omer Dostri, a researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and an expert on national security and military strategy.2
Dr. Ron Schleifer, a psychological warfare analyst at Ariel University, told The Media Line that the Hamas propaganda campaign aims to disrupt Israeli morale and show that fighting Hamas does not pay. He added that the terrorist organization aims to make the Israeli public feel that “Hamas will always be more clever and an ominous enemy, also that the war effort is useless, and Hamas is much more cruel and ruthless than Israel, and that Israel eventually is going to lose. This is the goal of the persuasion campaign.”
Rather than urging Hamas to release the abductees, many countries worldwide, including Western liberal democracies, tend to criticize Israel. In terms of global perception, it seems, albeit paradoxically, that Hamas holds an advantageous position in the battle for public opinion against Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas feels the military pressure from Israel. It sees Israel operating in Rafah and Jabalya. By dangling the hostages in front of Israel’s proverbial face, Hamas pushes Israelis to put pressure on the government to reach a deal for the hostages and, more advantageously for Hamas, end the war.
Since the beginning of October, Hamas has systematically made moves to sow fear and confusion within Israeli society, using media to commit psychological attacks. On October 8th, Hamas released a video showing Israeli civilians, including women and children, being held captive in undisclosed locations. The whole world saw footage of the injured, raped, and killed victims of terror. Among them was 22-year-old Shani Louk, one of the women paraded through the streets of Gaza.
More videos were published again and again, featuring soldiers, female hostages, young girls, babies, and the elderly. In recent months, the psychological warfare has only intensified; on May 20th, another propaganda video was released featuring 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage with his mother, Channah Peri, from a kibbutz.
Of course you could define psychological warfare by Israel as releasing videos of interrogations with Hamas terrorists or showing the destruction of different Hamas assets. But Israel does not lie the way Hamas lies. Hamas uses videos of hostages very smartly in its ability to get the Israeli people to be more vocal in their criticism of the Israeli government.
Hamas hostage videos are only a tiny part of a more comprehensive and longstanding use by Hamas of video to produce psychological effects designed to further their military and ideological goals. Some videos are used to bolster their domestic image, some to create fear and confusion among Israelis, and some, as in the case of the hostage videos, to manipulate public opinion to achieve psychologically what they cannot achieve militarily.
Their purpose is achieved when their tactics create discord and disrupt Israeli strategy. Should Israeli strategy be affected by Hamas tactics, it would reinforce the use of a calculated psychological technique and demonstrate how a “soft power” approach can potentially paralyze an opponent with a massive military advantage.
In January, the IDF found a secret document, while operating in Gaza, written by a senior Hamas official detailing the terrorist group’s psychological warfare strategy against the Israeli public. The document ordered that photos and videos of the Israeli hostages continue to be published “due to the psychological pressure they create.”3
The report also singled out Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as a target for psychological pressure, apparently due to the terror group’s belief that he is the most susceptible to this tactic.
Additionally, the directive emphasized the importance of maintaining the narrative that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears responsibility for the failures of the October 7th terrorist attack and pushing the idea that the IDF ground operations will not create the conditions necessary for the return of the rest of the hostages.
Moreover, the document highlighted the social divide in Israel as an issue to focus on, as well as increasing pressure around the issue of the hostages and “putting sticks” in the wheels of Israel’s war.
Following the IDF’s official announcement on Sunday that it recovered the bodies of six hostages, parts of Israeli society went berserk. Arnon Bar-David, who heads Israel’s largest labor union (Histadrut Labor Federation), declared a general strike on Sunday afternoon over the government’s failure to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza. He stated that “a deal is more important than anything else,” in light of mounting outrage over the killing of six captives by Hamas.
As part of the strike, Israel’s international Ben Gurion Airport will be shut down at 8:00 on Monday morning, with all incoming and outgoing flights cancelled. The Histadrut’s call was also taken up by the Israel Business Forum, which represents most private-sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies, as well as Opposition Leader Yair Lapid. What’s more, Israel Bar Association chief Amit Becher called on “all lawyers to go on strike.”
Israel’s research universities will also “join the economic shutdown,” the Association of University Heads said in a statement. And several municipalities and local councils announced work stoppages tomorrow, including Ra’anana, Kfar Saba, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Hod Hasharon, and Herzliya.
Bar-David said that after speaking with various security officials, he believes the deal is stuck “because of political considerations” and argued that, due to political polarization, “we are no longer one people; we are camp against camp” and “we need to bring back the State of Israel.”
Somewhere deep underground, in the tunnels of terror where he keeps our hostages, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is once again putting Israeli society in a rift and succeeding in disintegrating it in fruitless negotiations over a small portion of the abductees whom he allegedly might release.
Does he have a reason now, after watching the news releases and the statements of the politicians from the Opposition and Histadrut leader Arnon Bar-David, to totally flip his script? Is this what will crack something in his cold-blooded heart and suddenly urge him to fold and return the kidnapped?
Those who believe that it is are naive. Their dismay for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government blinds them from seeing Hamas for what it is and Sinwar for who he is.
At the same time, those demanding a ceasefire-for-hostages deal never seem to demand an end to the incessant aid of food, fuel, and equipment to Hamas in the Gaza Strip where our hostages are being held.
“4 murdered hostages recovered in Gaza were on list of captives meant for release in 1st stage of deal — report.” The Times of Israel.
“Hamas Uses Psychological Warfare as a Weapon To Survive and Enhance Its Position.” The Media Line.
“IDF discovers new secret document detailing Hamas psychological warfare.” The Jewish Chronicle.
Yes, yes, and yes. The Israeli hostage families and their adjacent protesters are playing into Hamas hands. I feel deep pain for these poor people, but they need to stop. It will be a bitter pill for Israel if they let Hamas emerge without being defeated. Most of these hostages are unlikely to come back even with a truce, so demanding a deal under any terms won’t even get them back their families and will cost Israel the future. So hard to accept but they need to do it. Where is America? Weak and cowardly.
One small disagreement with Joshua Hoffmann: Yahyah Sinwar isn’t just cold-hearted. He’s a psychopath, and needs to be eliminated.