This is a lengthy piece rebutting pro-Israel misinformation – you can review the intro / tl;dr if you just want a quick summary. If you only read one section in detail, the most important is Section 4 on “human shields” as this is the biggest unchallenged repeated lie. I would also recommend reviewing Section 2 […]
Debunking Beheaded Babies, Concert Rapes, And Human Shields: Hasbara Words That Work For Israeli War Crimes, Apartheid, And Genocide - MuslimMatters.org .wpb_animate_when_almost_visible { opacity: 1; } Islam Aqeedah and Fiqh Arabic Studies Dawah and Interfaith History and Seerah Inspiration and Spirituality New Muslims Quran and Sunnah Riyad as-Saliheen Worship Ramadan Society Family and Community Interfaith MMGreen Positively Muslim Racism Sex and the Ummah Women Life Bullying and Islam Series Marriage Career and Money Development Psychology Relationships Education Fashion Fitness Gender Relations Health Homeschooling Current Affairs Anti-Muslim Bigotry Civil Rights Injustice News and Views Op-Ed Politics Terrorism Culture Books Fashion Fiction Film Food Humor Islamic Art Media Photography Poetry About About MM The Team MM News Action-Alerts Announcements Competitions Islamic Events Recruitment Donate to MuslimMatters FAQ Comments Policy Legal Disclaimer Contact Contact Us Submissions Write for Us! Connect with us MuslimMatters.org Debunking Beheaded Babies, Concert Rapes, And Human Shields: Hasbara Words That Work For Israeli War Crimes, Apartheid, And Genocide Write for Us! Donate IslamProphetic Lessons From The Muslim Men In GazaAttaining Sweetness In WorshipThe Quran And The Flaming MeteorPodcast [Man 2 Man]: Da’wah Deconstructed | Fahad TasleemPodcast: Muslim Fatherhood & Masculinity Beyond the Manosphere | Sh Mohammad Elshinawy SocietyProphetic Lessons From The Muslim Men In GazaPodcast: Muslim Fatherhood & Masculinity Beyond the Manosphere | Sh Mohammad ElshinawyFrom The MuslimMatters Bookshelf: Palestinian Literature For All Ages5 Steps To Grow From Passive To Active Bystanders During The Genocide Of GazaStanding With Palestine: A Poem LifeProphetic Lessons From The Muslim Men In GazaPodcast: Muslim Fatherhood & Masculinity Beyond the Manosphere | Sh Mohammad Elshinawy6 Quranic Reflections On The Current Situation In Palestine5 Steps To Grow From Passive To Active Bystanders During The Genocide Of GazaResponding To Religious Harassment In US Schools – A Guide CultureFrom The MuslimMatters Bookshelf: Palestinian Literature For All AgesStanding With Palestine: A Poem[Podcast] Sustainable Modesty with the First Hijabi Thrift StorePerpetual Outsiders: Accounts Of The History Of Islam In The Indian SubcontinentThe Muslim Bookstagram Awards 2023 Current AffairsThe Death Knell of Academic Freedom and Intellectual Debate at HarvardActivism for Palestine in the West: Understanding the Agreement of Joe Biden and Jordan Peterson on IsraelProphetic Lessons From The Muslim Men In GazaPodcast: Muslim Fatherhood & Masculinity Beyond the Manosphere | Sh Mohammad ElshinawyThe Terminal Hypocrisy Of A Crumbling West And The Dawning Of A New Age for Muslims #Current Affairs Debunking Beheaded Babies, Concert Rapes, And Human Shields: Hasbara Words That Work For Israeli War Crimes, Apartheid, And Genocide Published October 19, 2023 By Siraaj Muhammad This is a lengthy piece rebutting pro-Israel misinformation – you can review the intro / tl;dr if you just want a quick summary. If you only read one section in detail, the most important is Section 4 on “human shields” as this is the biggest unchallenged repeated lie. I would also recommend reviewing Section 2 on how pro-Israel talking points were created, and how they are deployed to frame arguments – this will teach you both how they think about issues as well as learn what they know are their own weaknesses and try to avoid. Contents hide 1 Introduction and tl;dr 2 The Beginnings of “Words that Work” for Israeli State Terror 2.1 Frank Luntz: “Words that Work” and “Words that don’t Work” 2.2 Luntz Created the Hasbara Manual to Manipulate What Americans Hear 2.3 Newsweek Calls Out Luntz’s Hasbara Manual on Illegal Israel Settlements 2.4 The Independent Calls Out the Hasbara Manual on Media Manipulation 2.5 Israel’s Biggest Public Weakness and Luntz’s Recommendation: Say “Terror, Not Territory” 3 Did Hamas Behead 40 Babies or Rape Women? 3.1 Terror, not Territory Revisited 4 Does Hamas Use Civilians as Human Shields? 4.1 The IDF Uses Palestinians as Human Shields 4.2 Israel is Still Using Palestinians as Human Shields in 2023 4.3 Netanyahu’s Endgame – Apartheid, Genocide, and Annexation 5 What Can Be Done to Push Back? Introduction and tl;dr Many of you wonder with justified horror at how the American media consistently favors the Israeli narrative of their victimhood vs the Palestinian case. You look at international media and don’t see the same blackout of Palestinian voices, counterpoints, and humanizing stories. Much of this can be attributed to the organizing power of the Israel Lobby (many of you will think AIPAC, but it is more sophisticated than this and space doesn’t allow for further discussion) and its connections within media, government, and industry (especially the military industrial complex). The following piece will focus on rhetoric and messaging used by these lobby groups and those they have influence over in government and media, specifically the calculated nature of the words and framing of issues to divert from speaking of Israel’s problems and instead inventing or exaggerating problems on the Palestinian side that are in reality magnitudes of order far worse on the Israeli side. Specifically, we will look at the following: The Global Language Dictionary aka the Hasbara Manual created by pollster Dr. Frank Luntz and commissioned by “The Israeli Project” media relations lobby and the impact this has had on messaging and framing issues for the American public. We’re providing the full pdf to download and encourage readers to review it (it’s about 116 pages, but it isn’t dense reading). We will examine claims of beheaded babies and raped women, and whether they have been substantiated (tl;dr they haven’t been, and you can skip to section 2 that provides media coverage on this). We will examine claims that Hamas is using their people as human shields (they’re not, check out section 4), and show that not only is Israeli army, the IDF, guilty of doing this openly in the past, they have been told to stop by their own high court and continue to do so even now. While conclusively rebutting these unsubstantiated talking points that go completely unchecked, we will examine the impact and recommendations the Hasbara manual provides either directly or indirectly to monopolize the narrative. We conclude with recommendations for how to deal with the Hasbara manual and use its findings to our advantage, both in the short-term and long-term, in order to challenge these illegitimate narratives. At each point, evidence will be provided from independent journalists on the ground, reports from 3rd party human rights groups such as Amnesty International and B’Tselem. While we will share quotes and excerpts from articles and reports, we will provide the links so that if there are any gaps or apparent misrepresentations of context, readers are free to call them out in the comments below. Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month. The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it. In some cases, we will quote a full page of text because the information in reports are in pdf documents that aren’t a simple google search away. This will provide better SEO for others to find this content and perform deeper and more extensive research on these matters. Finally, if in this research correct attribution is missed, there is no intent to do so – please let us know and we will gladly give credit where credit is due. The Beginnings of “Words that Work” for Israeli State Terror On the historic night Americans elected its first Black President, Israeli soldiers raided the Gaza Strip, killing six Hamas soldiers, violating a 6 month ceasefire. This would lead one month later to Operation Cast Lead, a brutal Israeli offensive that killed over 1400 Palestinians and wounded over 5500 more, the vast majority of whom were civilians. In contrast, Israel reported 13 fatalities (4 of whom were from friendly fire). Oxford Professor Avi Shlaim, writing for the Guardian, states: On 27 December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, pounding the densely populated strip from the air, sea and land for 22 days. It was not a war or even “asymmetric warfare” but a one-sided massacre. Israel had 13 dead; the Gazans had 1,417 dead, including 313 children, and more than 5,500 wounded. According to one estimate 83% of the casualties were civilians. Israel claimed to be acting in self-defence, protecting its civilians against Hamas rocket attacks. The evidence, however, points to a deliberate and punitive war of aggression. Israel had a diplomatic alternative, but it chose to ignore it and to resort to brute military force. Frank Luntz: “Words that Work” and “Words that don’t Work” Due to the PR fallout of Operation Cast Lead, Washington-based think tank “The Israeli Project” (TIP) specializing in media relations contracted the services of Frank Luntz to research and provide the best rhetoric to sell all aspects of Israel’s genocide to the American people in favorable, relatable ways. The document wasn’t meant for distribution and was leaked almost immediately to Newsweek (which is why we know about it). The end goal was to make Israel, its war crimes, settlements, ambiguous borders, and more seem nothing more than the actions of a victim defending itself while making the Palestinians seem like unreasonable aggressors. For example, in Luntz’s research, he found that “78% of Americans supported a two-state solution”, which of course the Israeli government doesn’t. Therefore, in order to manipulate public perception, Luntz encourages positive messaging, agreeing to this goal, but saying the first step is peace and only then two separate states. He writes this knowing the reason there is no peace is because Israel is an occupier building illegal settlements – how can there be “peace first” when the IDF and settlers are actively sabotaging the thing they claim they want? Luntz writes: “Peace before political boundaries” sets up the perfect dynamic for you. It elevates the need to stop the rockets, stop the bombings, and create a ceasefire, while subtly downplaying the importance of a two-state solution by calling it “political boundaries.” Peace always beats politics in the opinion elite’s mind. Always.” He went on to produce a 116 page document filled with how to position issues in such a way that Israeli’s are a positive, hopeful people that want nothing but peace and the two state solution when in reality, they have no such goal. I encourage you to read the full report here and a second report he did 5 years later here. Luntz Created the Hasbara Manual to Manipulate What Americans Hear Luntz contributed to what is known in hebrew as “hasbara” or literally “to explain”, though it is synonymous with “propaganda. When you hear politicians, media personalities, activists, and commentators repeating the same language and rhetoric across different mediums, this isn’t by accident – through a coordinated effort by various lobby groups, the advice in this document is taken to heart and used to maintain Palestinian oppression by monopolizing the public narrative. For example, in this recent escalation when Ali Velshi spoke both about the situation in Israel as well as in Gaza, the ADL came on the network and publicly rebuked any coverage favoring the Palestinian narrative and to only focus on Israeli victims on MSNBC. They further demanded the focus should only be on “terror” from one side. MSNBC has since removed 3 Muslim journalists – Ali Velshi, Mehdi Hasan, and Ayman Mohyeldin as covered by Max Tani of Semafor. Breaking Points with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti also covered their removal here: This isn’t the first time Luntz’s pollster research and reframing of words, issues, and situations was deployed effectively and collectively upon the American psyche. In his book “Words that Work”, he outlines in detail how his work was instrumental in overturning a 50 year democratic majority to a republican-controlled congress in the 90s by helping wordsmith the ideas found in the “Contract with America.” The main point of his book is that in attempting to persuade people “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear” and how to effectively control what people hear through the careful choice of words that are used. And how does he figure out the right words and framing? He puts together focus groups and tests them by asking the same question using different words or showing videos in varying order. After reviewing responses, he determines which words and video sequences best produce the desired outcomes and conclusions. In other words, he’s not interested in what people think about it in principle, but rather how to shift the framing for the average “persuadable” (a person who is basically on the fence) to see whoever has hired him out as the side to be on. Once he figures out the best messaging and framing, all politicians and media personalities will follow the same script using the same words. You may notice when confronted with a question that demands more than a reductive sound bite, rather than answer the question, they return to the sound bite. As an aside, Luntz has also been involved in helping Israeli lobby groups work on messaging to damage the BDS movement and more about this can be read on the Electronic Intifada here: Oh my, @FrankLuntz just shared a version of this old "Four Sentences that Defeat BDS." But he warned viewers,"not to post pictures of the slides online. 'If you do, it will end up on [the] Electronic Intifada.'" But #BDS won't be defeated & cc: @intifada! https://t.co/wOXJIDOx5h pic.twitter.com/O0xge5YGhn — Adalah-NY (@AdalahNY) June 24, 2018 Newsweek Calls Out Luntz’s Hasbara Manual on Illegal Israel Settlements The manual was leaked to Newsweek in 2009 (a time when social media and internet usage wasn’t anywhere near what it is now), and they wrote in their article, “How to Sell Americans on Israeli Settlements”: Luntz, who has advised mostly Republican candidates, appears to have tested a variety of messages on the focus groups. He concludes that “public opinion is hostile to the settlements,” even among supporters of Israel. “Nothing is tougher to articulate effectively to neutral Americans than a message in favor of the settlements,” Luntz writes. “Let me be clear about this conclusion. Plenty of Israeli and American Jewish leaders have tried, but American and European audiences rejected almost everything we tested.” Luntz did not respond to NEWSWEEK’s request for comment. After detailing why three common arguments Israelis use are failing pathways for persuasion, he writes his research indicates the best language is the following (this is quoted from the Newsweek article): In the report, Luntz describes the “best settlement argument” as one that draws a parallel between the Arab communities in Israel and the Jewish settlers in the West Bank—and refers to the idea of evacuating Jews as racist. “The idea that anywhere that you have Palestinians there can’t be any Jews, that some areas have to be Jew-free, is a racist idea.” Instead, he suggests saying. “We don’t say that we have to cleanse out Arabs from Israel. They are citizens of Israel. They enjoy equal rights. We cannot see why it is that peace requires that any Palestinian area would require a kind of ethnic cleansing to remove all Jews. We don’t accept it. Cleansing by either side against either side is unacceptable.” It matters little to Luntz there’s a substantive difference between people who have legitimately bought and owned property vs those who are trespassing, stealing, and squatting ie occupying land that isn’t their own (as shown the tweet below) – what matters is manipulating what people hear. This doesn't describe the Israeli occupier's logic only; it also describes the rudeness of those who support the Israeli colonial policies of expropriating the Palestinian occupied lands. pic.twitter.com/OSB0QejwCT — Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) May 1, 2021 The Independent Calls Out the Hasbara Manual on Media Manipulation In addition to Newsweek, Patrick Cockburn of the UK edition of the Independent wrote in 2014 “The Secret Report that Helps Israel Hide Facts”, after the brutal massacre that occurred during Operation: Protective Edge in which over 1000 civilians were killed compared to 3 for the Israelis: On every occasion, the presentation of events by Israeli spokesmen is geared to giving Americans and Europeans the impression that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians and is prepared to compromise to achieve this, when all the evidence is that it does not. Though it was not intended as such, few more revealing studies (ie the Hasbara Manual) have been written about modern Israel in times of war and peace. Cockburn advises the rest of the media (and I advise everyone reading this to take his advice) to read the document, stating: These are highly illuminating about the gap between what Israeli officials and politicians really believe, and what they say, the latter shaped in minute detail by polling to determine what Americans want to hear (emphasis mine). Certainly, no journalist interviewing an Israeli spokesman should do so without reading this preview of many of the themes and phrases employed by Mr Regev and his colleagues. The booklet is full of meaty advice about how they should shape their answers for different audiences. The last quote with needs to be emblazoned into everyone’s minds as we delve into the widespread media and political misinformation campaign being waged both now and in the future. Cockburn’s further adds: Every one of the 112 pages in the booklet is marked “not for distribution or publication” and it is easy to see why. The Luntz report, officially entitled “The Israel project’s 2009 Global Language Dictionary, was leaked almost immediately to Newsweek Online, but its true importance has seldom been appreciated. It should be required reading for everybody, especially journalists, interested in any aspect of Israeli policy because of its “dos and don’ts” for Israeli spokesmen. We know most journalists have not or will not heed this warning. It’s on the rest of us to be aware of these manipulations to bring the discourse back into the realm of substantive examination of the facts rather than the magician’s art of misdirection to take our focus away from where the real problems occur. Israel’s Biggest Public Weakness and Luntz’s Recommendation: Say “Terror, Not Territory” Luntz writes in his manual the following discovery from this research: We asked American opinion elites a simple question: “Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose a two-state solution in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, where both have independent nations?” (Luntz National Survey, January 2009) We received a very clear answer: Fully and exactly 50% of Americans strongly support a two-state solution. Combine this with the 28.2% who somewhat support it and you have the formula for a landslide in support of giving the Palestinians their own land and their own government. Again… Over 78% of Americans support a two-state solution. So when you’re talking to Americans, you need to know that when you don’t support a two-state solution you risk having a major public relations challenge in America and Europe. Keeping in mind that Luntz has tol… truncated (40,638 more characters in archive)