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How Israel Is Losing The Propaganda War To Hamas

Portfolio Armor's Photo
by Portfolio Armor
Monday, Oct 23, 2023 - 12:31
AI Chessboard image representing a propaganda war.

How To Lose A Propaganda War To Hamas

Immediately after the Hamas attack on October 7th (A Moment Of Clarity In The Mideast), we predicted the inevitable Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, but wrote "this seems unwise". After suffering the 3rd worst terrorist attack since 1970, rather than let the magnitude of that sink in, by bombing Gaza, Israel caused the news cycle to shift to casualties in Gaza. 

Statistic: Deadliest terrorist attacks worldwide from 1970 to 2023, by number of fatalities and perpetrator | Statista

Ostensibly friendly media and organizations in the U.S. haven't helped Israel either, as our friend Lomez pointed out over the weekend. 

One example of alienating natural allies was the ADL (whose unflattering origin story we related here) ignoring the BLM and Muslim crowds cheering the Hamas attack and attacking "white supremacists" instead. 

Some Protestors Don't Even Believe It Happened

American independent journalist Michael Tracey attended a pro-Palestinian rally in Birmingham, England recently, and while some acknowledged the Hamas attack and argued it was justified because Israelis had colonized the place (an ironic complaint from a burka-wearing Muslim living in England)...

...Others don't believe the Hamas attack happened at all.

Apparently, that's true of some American college students as well. 

 

Demographic Change In The U.S. Affects Perceptions 

In the U.S., polls suggest most young people are aware of the attacks, but a significant minority feel they were justified. 

This is likely due in part to demographic change, via immigration, as former Trump staffer Stephen Miller pointed out. 

Mark Pincus, the Wharton- and Harvard-educated founder of the Silicon Valley game company Zynga, was apparently unaware of this dynamic. In 2017, he publicly opposed Trump's "Muslim ban" (a ban on travelers from certain Muslim countries); this year, he's horrified by high school students in San Francisco chanting anti-Israel slogans. 

Letting Hamas Help 

Ironically, Hamas gave Israel a potentially potent weapon to use in its public relations war: the Hamas attackers Israel caught or killed recorded much of their torture and murder spree themselves, on GoPros or other body cameras. Reportedly, Israel is finally going to screen the unedited footage from these cameras for international journalists today. 

If they're smart, they'll stop bombing Gaza long enough to capture a news cycle with it. Then maybe they'll have a shot at winning some international support for the better solution to the conflict that we suggested in a previous post (The Guns Of October). 

In Case You Missed It

If you're a risk averse investor, you may be interested in the hedged portfolio method we laid  out in this recent article. 

If you're a more aggressive investor, or a trader, we have three trades teed up for today on companies releasing earnings after the close today or before the open Monday. You can subscribe to our trading Substack/occasional email list below if you'd like a heads up when we place them. 

We've also posted about a new RSI trade here: An Oversold Industrial Insiders Are Buying. 

 

 

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