Hamas-Israel War Misinformation Mainlined by Blame America First Party

The Israelis and Hamas are at war. And it seems as though politically minded people are being asked to take sides. 

The backstory on what’s occurring in the Gaza strip is chock full of horrible things happening simultaneously that happen to be true. And while the initial acts of war this weekend came from the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, nothing has endangered Israel’s security more than its policy of occupation.

Now we’re caught up in the modern phenomenon of watching war in real time on screens, as if we’re watching a soccer match. Arguing with other people on this side of the world over which side we support shows the depravity of our culture. 

Champions for an independent Palestine have staged protests in US cities, stoking a horrified response by people who see Israel as having a magical special status; a beacon in a world filled with antisemitic bad guys. 

Right wing extremists in our own country are painting already otherized groups with a terrorist laden paintbrush. Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA announced that Black Lives Matter (“BLM Race Arsonists”) is equivalent to Hamas and planning actions of their own. 

The countdown is on for reactionaries to invoke imagined Antifa fighters lurking in suburbia, ready to inflict atrocities on decent Americans. And, of course, some would have people believe that President Biden enabled the Hamas attack.

Let me say at the outset that both Russia and Iran, credited in op ed columns as the secret hands behind this war, have denied any connection to the attack, saying it was organized and led by the Palestinian people. 

The propagandistic portrait of Palestinians as ignorant savages deems a shadowy secret supporter as necessary for quashing any doubts people might have about Israel’s past actions. Hamas fighters are motivated by white hot anger and a need for retribution of a state created system comparable to apartheid aimed at their people.  

Imagery of Hamas now exists portraying them as less than human. A terrorist attack against tourists in Egypt on Sunday has escalated fear outside the battlefield.

Here’s Markos Moulitsas at Daily Kos, who’s also been closely following the conflict in Ukraine:

• But I will say that whatever goals Hamas had for the future, it just pisses them away. By following Russia’s playbook of targeting civilians and children and engaging in sexual violence against women, Hamas lost any semblance of moral high ground, and rallied not just Israeli public opinion against it, but much of the world’s. 

• The atrocities Hamas gleefully committed against Israeli civilians yesterday were perhaps the worst I’ve seen in the last two years, and that includes my daily diet of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. It might’ve been worse than what we saw in Bucha early in the war. 

We can expect the Israeli response to be cold, brutal, and overwhelming. Whatever means – and the U.S. has supplied a lot of those means– available will be used within an area 25 miles long, 5 miles wide, with 2 million people unable to escape will certainly tip the balance of deaths. Bullets and bombs may be obvious, but the upcoming siege –”no water, no food, no electricity”- starving out Palestinians will be just as deadly.

“We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly”-- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Civilian deaths, wanton destruction, and kidnappings don’t have a “side.” It’s all simply wrong. Morally, one cannot justify the killing of Palestinian civilians, even if it’s called fighting terrorism. But morally, one also cannot justify the killing of Israeli civilians, even if presented as fighting occupation.

In the end, killing is what will happen. Everything will be lost by human beings who would like to just get on with their lives. The world will not be a safer place. Posturing between great powers will eclipse the growing needs of the people they rule over.

Here’s former Bernie Sanders aide Matt Duss, currently executive vice president of the Center for International Policy quoted in Politico:

• It has destroyed this whole premise that we can just bottle up the Palestinians and it won’t matter. It has destroyed the premise, once again — and it’s not the first time that we’ve been shaken out of this fantasy — that we can invest in repression, we can invest in relationships with governments that imprison their own people and deliver security and stability. It may work for a little while. But it will not work forever and when it erupts, it’s extremely dangerous and tragic. And that is what we’ve seen here.

There are already winners here, notably forces seeking to gain advantage by the very fact of armed conflict. In this instance, it seems clear that Iran has accomplished the goal of disrupting the accelerating process of Arab countries accepting Israel. The price of dirty energy supplied by Russia and Saudi Arabia will continue its rise, etc. etc.

More facts will emerge over time as they have in past conflicts, but here are some things I see as likely:

• Our domestic media will frame this conflict as a “numbers killed” event all-too-often, keeping the underlying causes buried toward the bottom of reporting.

• Iranian Guards assisted the initial assault in terms of armaments, training, and intelligence. The Wall Street Journal story about a secret meeting in Lebanon, however, is likely CIA inspired. 

• Crucial intelligence about Israel’s Iron Dome air defense came via Iran, likely supplied by the Russian government.

• The pre-conditions leading up to the attack were actions taken by Prime Minister Netanyahu used by hard core militants as justification. (For practical purposes, the Gaza strip Hamas rules over resembles a prison camp overseen by Israeli forces, where an entire population is already being made to suffer.)

• Israel's unity against a common enemy isn’t what it once was. The editorial board of Haaretz says Netanyahu himself is squarely responsible for the disaster, having ignored the potential consequences of escalating aggression toward Palestinians.

• Netanyahu’s far right government has been good at propaganda and seeking to recast Israeli society in its image with authoritarian constraints. But the actual management of national systems has been less than optimal.

• The surprise part of the Hamas attack represents a HUGE intelligence failure, not just by the Israelis, but by the United States. Turkish media reporting that Egypt warned Israel about something terrible coming via Hamas smells like fresh cowpies.

The intelligence success coming out of this conflict has to be coordinated disinformation aimed at Israel’s main ally, namely the United States.

Almost as one, Republican politicians have repeated the same misinformation concerning $6 billion dollars they claim was “given” to Iran by the Biden administration and used to finance the attack on Israel.  Some are even saying this funding was from US taxpayers.

Senator Ted Cruz, always on the lookout for a camera crew, is saying the Biden administration has contributed $40 billion.

The kernel of truth here is that $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues held in South Korea due to the US embargo were released to Qatar as part of a deal to free American hostages. The money was to be released in increments for humanitarian purposes and non-sanctioned items; the U.S. Treasury will have direct oversight on how the money will eventually be spent.

What makes this a BIG LIE is that no one cent of the money has changed hands. 

This information was easily verifiable, and some GOP mouthpieces have been confronted with the truth by reporters, to which they have responded with an argle-bargle nonsense.

Here’s Heather Cox Richardson, writing at Letters from An American: 

• Today’s assessment of the Russian offensive in Ukraine by the Institute for the Study of War said: “The Kremlin is already [exploiting] and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to advance several information operations intended to reduce US and Western support and attention to Ukraine.”

Why, you might ask, are Republicans chanting this bs in unison? I doubt there was a memo from Putin to one of his many US stooges, although I have certainty that the original source of this information online will ultimately be traced to a Russian affiliate.

Consider this round of garbage a preview of what to expect in the run up to the 2024 election. 

Here’s Noah Berlatsky at Public Notice:

• There’s no doubt that, in the face of this disaster, the US needs to rethink its approach. But Republicans have used the crisis to indulge in monstrously irresponsible lies and inflammatory conspiracy theories that seem designed to hobble peace efforts and encourage dissension, confusion, and war.

• The GOP has been cosplaying recently as an antiwar party. But their rush to demagogue escalating violence makes it very clear they have little regard for the lives of either Palestinians or Israelis, nor for the stability of the world order.

Republicans have big problems they’d like to distract us citizens from. They’d like us to believe the President was relaxing on Saturday. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy repeated this lie again today at a press conference.

In the real world, President Biden addressed the nation on Saturday, talked with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and committed to providing Israel with additional support.

There is no Ambassador to Israel, thanks to GOP holds. Hundreds of military leadership positions are unfilled, thanks to one Southern Senator with a bug up his ass about abortions. (Which the military does not provide, by the way) 

The war is inconvenient for Republicans, who have planned the release of a really big –some people are saying it’s the biggest ever– report framed to suggest that there really is an invasion at our Southern border that is, of course, Biden’s fault.

And there is no Speaker of the House, thanks to the War on Woke. Thus, Gang of Eight legislators who get briefed by the White House during times of crisis were short one member this weekend. The guy currently holding the gavel, Rep. Patrick McHenry, does not have the power to move legislation in the likely event congress is asked to send military aid.

After dumping Rep. Kevin McCarthy last week, Republicans adjourned for a long weekend. Media reports say they’ll be back in business on Wednesday, with a closed door vote likely to be split between Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Steve Scalise. Anything diverting attention from media accounts of “precious time” wasting away in sending aid will be welcomed by the GOP.

Where things will go from there is anybody’s guess, but I wouldn’t rule out a food fight on the floor.

Going beyond the GOP pipeline of misinformed sludge on the Middle East, a chorus of bad characters are sharing fake videos on social networks, including past war footage, and  members of the Iranian Parliament chanting Death to Israel! - Death to America! during the Hamas attack. 

Elon Musk, the loose cannon seeking to empower authoritarian causes, was an important cog for the purveyors of lies. I can only hope he ends up like the MyPillow guy, broke and whining about MAGA costing him everything.

Via the Washington Post:

• As false information about the rapidly changing war between Gaza Strip militants and Israel proliferated on the social media platform X over the weekend, owner Elon Musk personally recommended that users follow accounts notorious for promoting lies.

• “For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors & @sentdefender are good,” Musk posted on the platform formerly called Twitter on Sunday morning to 150 million follower accounts. That post was viewed 11 million times in three hours, drawing thanks from those two accounts, before Musk deleted it.

• Both were among the most important early spreaders of a false claim in May that there had been an explosion near the White House. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index briefly dropped 85 points before that story was debunked.

Donald Trump Jr. and others shared a photo as “proof” that U.S. weapons abandoned in Afghanistan were used in the attack. The image offered up is from 2021, not 2023; taken in Afghanistan, not Israel, and includes members of the Taliban not Hamas.

I’ve already seen enough venom from “sides” referring to the Hamas - Israeli war. I’ve said this several different ways in this essay and I’m saying it again:‘

It is entirely possible to support Palestinian statehood, to oppose the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank, to advocate for a peace agreement, and at the same time denounce Hamas murdering and kidnapping civilians. These aren’t mutually exclusive things.

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Now, readings from a range of perspectives, cribbed from Jill Filipovic, that deepened my understanding, even when I disagreed with the authors.

A Message from Iran, by Kim Ghattas
A Massacre at a Music Festival in Israel, by Ruth Margalit
Could the attack on Israel spell the end of Hamas? an interview by Isaac Chotiner
How the Al-Aqsa Mosque became a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an NPR interview with Yousef Munayyer.
We feel fear, anger and helplessness: all of Israel is in a state of war. But revenge is not the answer, by Orly Noy.
In the midst of war, Benjamin Netanyahu is a liability who can only make things worse. He must go, by Simon Tisdall.
Why Hamas Attacked — And Why Israel Was Taken by Surprise, a conversation with Martin Indyk in Foreign Affairs.

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Non-War News Clips

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San Diego crime is down, but privacy ordinance could have negative impact on current trend Via Fox 5 News

Alternative headline: San Diego Mayor Repeats Copaganda in Warmup to Reelection Campaign

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It's a global climate solution — if it can get past conspiracy theories and NIMBYs Via NPR

• Yet the conspiracy theory that 15-minute cities are a way for the global elite to contain people in open-air prisons took off in the past year, says Jennie King, head of climate research and policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London, a nonprofit that studies extremism.

• "Fifteen-minute cities is the latest victim in a broader trend," King says. "The unifying theme of a lot of these attacks and conspiracies is that climate change is being used as a pretext to strip people of their civil liberties."

• Some prominent right-wing podcasters, including Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan, have brought up the conspiracy theory on their shows. Last month, Rogan talked about 15-minute cities on his show. "You'll essentially be contained unless you get permission to leave," Rogan said. "That's the idea they're starting to roll out in Europe."

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The Rays of the Sun–They Cut Hard, Both Ways by Bill McKibben 

• We have, in effect, turned September into July. That’s not hyperbole, that’s just data. And in so doing, September smashed through the 1.5 degree Celsius warming mark that the world set as a target in Paris just eight years ago. We’ve been talking about it ever since, and now we’re there.

• And there’s no huge mystery about why. Yes, we’re in an El Niño, though it’s only now kicking in. Yes, reduced air pollution from ships and Asian cities means less sun reflected. But, basically, the gases we’ve poured into the atmosphere are turning the sun from our greatest friend into our most daunting problem.

• And at the exact same time, the sun is our greatest hope for getting us out of our predicament. Again, there are lots of other things we could talk about: whether we’ll eventually have small nuclear reactors, or deep geothermal power, or a dozen other possible wonders. But right now, in the same months that the planet is overheating, our cheap quick ways out of trouble rely on that same ball of burning gas orbiting 93 million miles above us. They are solar panels that catch the sun’s rays directly, and wind turbines that take advantage of the fact that the sun differentially heats the earth, creating the breezes that make them turn.