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.
Ostensibly friendly media and organizations in the U.S. haven't helped Israel either, as our friend Lomez pointed out over the weekend.
For as long as I can remember the Jewish PR apparatus, despite accounts that it’s some supernatural, omnipotent force, has been clumsy, overbearing, and self defeating, constantly alienating natural allies while apologizing for and encouraging its worst enemies.
— Lomez (@L0m3z) October 22, 2023
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.
The real enemy? "white supremacists".
— William M Briggs - Statistician to the Stars! (@FamedCelebrity) October 20, 2023
My theory is the ADL juices anti-Jew sentiment on purpose, then runs out to fund-raise on it.
Nice racket. https://t.co/xz8MZGvgyc
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)...
At pro-Palestine march in Birmingham, England. When asked to explain the sign, she explicitly said she agreed with Hamas massacring Israelis, because those killed in the attack were “colonial settlers.” No, I’m not exaggerating; that’s what she said. She wouldn’t give her name pic.twitter.com/GSusEIpjyR
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 21, 2023
...Others don't believe the Hamas attack happened at all.
Another common view is that the Hamas attack didn’t happen at all. One woman just told me that all they did was “break down a fence.” No killings happened, she said, but even if they did it would’ve been right for Palestine to retaliate in such a way due to 70 years of oppression pic.twitter.com/Bi7ZYryOk0
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 21, 2023
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.
51% of 18-24 year olds, 48% of 25-34, think that "the Hamas killing of 1200 Israeli civilians can be justified."
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) October 21, 2023
Also, majorities of both demos agree that the attacks were genocidal!
The only way these results are consistent is if 10-25% of young people support Jewish genocide pic.twitter.com/v1jyZJKQJC
This is likely due in part to demographic change, via immigration, as former Trump staffer Stephen Miller pointed out.
The sudden surge in anti-Israel sentiment among America’s youth is a phenomenon primarily made possible by large-scale immigration. A quarter of American children live in immigrant households. And most foreign countries have radically different attitudes toward the Jewish state. https://t.co/7k6ebZyZYR
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) October 20, 2023
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.
How it started, how it’s going, Jewish Silicon Valley genius version. pic.twitter.com/px0ynCkH3Y
— David Pinsen (@dpinsen) October 20, 2023
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.
Hamas is winning the propaganda war… so this needs to happen. https://t.co/U73T7s94Us
— Lawrence Jones III (@LawrenceBJones3) October 22, 2023
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
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War Clouds Call For Bulletproof Investing
— Portfolio Armor (@PortfolioArmor) October 20, 2023
With the Mideast war threatening to spread, another way to limit your risk.$ASML $FICO $RACE $SMCO $NSIT $NVDA $NVO $WYNN https://t.co/ibV5eoYAHD
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.
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