Tag Archives: Hamas

04May/10

Talk is not cheap

Talk is not cheap

By NIR BOMS AND IDO MIZRAHI
Jerusalem Post 03/05/2010

In the face of Palestinian incitement, Israel must return fire through spokesmen fluent in Arabic, and take initiatives to present alternatives.

Many in Israel were appalled when an animated video clip was posted last week depicting Noam Schalit, old and bitter, walking around with a photograph of his captive son Gilad, 20 years after his abduction. This cruel cynicism, the brainchild of the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, succeeded in drawing attention. The movement’s Web sites professed that the clip was aimed at the Israeli public, which is expected to pressure the government to carry out a prisoner exchange. But a more thorough reading reveals that in actuality the target audience is mostly the Palestinians themselves, and the timing of the clip’s publication is not coincidental at all. Continue reading

09Jun/09

The Other Gaza War: Hamas Media Strategy during Operation Cast Lead and Beyond

Chiche, Fabrice & Boms,Nir  (2009) “The Other Gaza War: Hamas Media Strategy during Operation Cast Lead and Beyond” in  Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 3. No. 2.

A simple search in Google for the word “Gaza” will yield over 67 million results, while a search for its neighboring Israeli city of Sderot-located just a few miles away from Gaza City and a target of the last few rounds of confrontation between Israel and Hamas-will yield a little over a million (a ratio of 60:1). A more interesting comparison demonstrates that a search for “Hamas,” a local terrorist group, receives twice the number of “hits” (27 million) as a search for the international terrorist network “al-Qa’ida.” These results can be explained by a number of factors, including the high level of interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way different terms are coded on the internet. But the rather impressive Hamas media presence that was apparent during the recent campaign in Gaza can also be attributed to the calculated and successful media strategy implemented by Hamas and some of its supporters. The notion of a “media war” is nothing new when it comes to terrorist groups. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qa’ida’s second-in-command, declared in 2005 that: “We are in a battle, and more than half of it is taking place in the battlefield of the media. We are in a media battle for the hearts and minds of our umma Continue reading

01Feb/09

RESPONSABILIDAD DEMOCRATICA EN GAZA‏

Nir Boms y Shayan Arya
Casi dos años despues que Hamas gano una gran mayoria en el nuevo parlamento palestino, y como consecuencia comento una nueva ronda de terror que provoco una operacion militar israeli en Gaza, un fragil cese del fuego ha puesto la ultima palabra de otro capitulo en este tragico conflicto. Las ondas aun tienen las imagenes de guerra y carniceria, con mujeres y chicos llorando y con debates acerca de conteos de cuerpos. Continue reading

30Jan/09

Democratic accountability in Gaza

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Democratic accountability in Gaza

Jan. 28, 2009
NIR BOMS and SHAYAN ARYA , THE JERUSALEM POST

Nearly two years after Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, and in return started a new round of terror that triggered an IDF military operation in Gaza, a fragile cease-fire has set the last word of another chapter in this tragic conflict. The airwaves are still filled with footage of war and carnage, with crying women and children and with debates about body counts. Yes, there is a tragic story to be told. War, even when justified, brings much injustice with it. But there is also an important lesson to be learned, and a hope that this time it will not be completely missed by the rioting Arab street. Continue reading