POLARIZATION AND RADICALIZATION AS IDENTITY DYNAMICS IN A FLUID ENVIRONMENT

THE CASE OF THE EXPLOSION AT AL AHLI HOSPITAL IN GAZA

  • Iulian Chifu National Defense University ”Carol I”
  • Iulia-Mihaela Drăgan National Defense University "Carol I"
Keywords: info war, radicalization, identity, perceptions, emotions, belief

Abstract

Research Paper

DOI: 10.37458/ssj.5.1.1

Playing with parallel mirrors is one of the most famous tricks in magic. Cropping the image seen by viewers, playing with the lights and spots is also part of the business. But these tactics are also used extensively in informational warfare as a cynical tool of trompe-oeil. Turning upside down the mirror means projecting on your adversary the wrongs and legal breaches that one actor is doing himself. Cropping scenes means making people ignore parts of reality, and focusing on the sequences of the picture where the actor would like to channel the attention of the public, where lights are also playing their part in the make-up of the show. The magnitude of the distance between reality and created perception could become equal to that between a victim and an aggressor. Good sense and logic would plead for the impossibility of such a change between the perception and the reality of one’s public. However, things do happen in such a way, and an obvious lie could become credible of a specific public when emotions and beliefs are taking the place of rational behavior and factual reality.

 We’ve seen that emotions and beliefs can alter the perception of reality or make alternative realities admissible. The research question is if polarization and radicalization are instruments able to create such a space where belonging to a special community and assuming a common identity becomes far more important than reality and absolute truth themselves. Complacency or active need to prove belonging to the group leads to dynamics of identity able to forge a self-trumping behavior that perceives alternative needed realities according to the beliefs of the group. Our case study is the bombardment of the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza, on the 17th of October 2023, able to erase the perceived memory of the horrible Hamas attack on the 7th of October in southern Israel.

References

• Al Jazeera. (2023). Israeli air raid on al-Ahli Arab Hospital kills 500, 17 October, at https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/10/17/photos-an-israeli-air-raid-on-al-ahli-arab-hospital-kills-an-estimated-500.

• Al Jazeera. (2023). Video investigation: What hit al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza?, 19 Oct, at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/what-hit-ahli-hospital-in-gaza.

• Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies, (2020). History of Emirati-Israeli Relations. In The “Abraham” Agreement: normalization of relations or announcement of an existing Emirati-Israeli alliance? (pp. 1–3). Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies.http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep26833.3.

• Averre, David. Nicol, Mark. Allen, Vannessa. (2023). Analyzing Israel's 'proof' that it wasn't behind Gaza hospital bloodbath: Experts examine IDF's dossier of 'evidence' including images of misfiring rocket, lack of crater and shrapnel on roof, Daily Mail online, 18 October, at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12644477/Israels-evidence-hospital-bloodbath-caused-misfired-rocket-Gaza-terrorists-IDF-claims-satellite-photos-footage-wiretapped-phone-call-prove-isnt-blame-horror.html.

• Azani, E., & Haberfeld, D. (2023). Hamas Media Campaign: “Al Aqsa Flood” (A. Pack, Ed.). International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT).http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep53545.

• BBC. (2023)Corrections and Clarifications. The BBC's responses to editorial, technical and corporate issues., 19 December, at https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications.

• Brooking, Emerson T.Mashkoor, Layla. Malaret, Jacqueline. (2023) Distortion by design: How social media platforms shaped the first stage of the Mideast crisis, Atlantic Council, Digital Forensic Research Lab, November 16, at https://view.atlanticcouncil.org/social-media-gaza/p/1.

• Campbell, R. L. (1999). AYN RAND AND THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION IN PSYCHOLOGY. The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, 1(1), 107–134. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41560113.

• Chifu, Iulian. (2022). Amenințări și conflicte în secolul 21 (Threats and conflicts in the 21-st Century), RAO, București.

• Chifu, Iulian. Popescu, Oana. Nedea, Bogdan.(2012)Religion and Conflict radicalization and violence in the Wider Black Sea Region, ISPRI, Romanian Academy, Bucharest.

• Dekel, U. (2023). The Israel-Hamas War: Israel Needs a Political Idea. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep54872.

• Flamer, Netanel. (2023) “An Asymmetric Doubling”: A Nonstate Actor Using the Method of Doubling Sources - Hamas against Israeli Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 36:1, 63- 77, DOI:10.1080/08850607.2022.2104054.

• Guzansky, Y. (2020). Saudi Arabia and Normalization with Israel. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep27809.

• Hafez, M. M. (2001). Muslim Palestine: The ideology of Hamas. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 33(1), 139-141. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/muslim-palestine-ideology-hamas/docview/195604415/se-2.

• Horton, Jake. Cheetham, Joshua.Sardarizadeh, Shayan. (2023)Gaza hospital blast: What does new analysis tell us?,BBC, 26 October, at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67216929.

• Human Rights Watch. (2023)Gaza: Findings on October 17 al-Ahli Hospital Explosion, 26 November 2023, at https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/26/gaza-findings-october-17-al-ahli-hospital-explosion.

• Kaloi, Stephanie. (2023)BBC Editor Admits Errors Reporting on Gaza Hospital Explosion But Says ‘I Don’t Regret One Thing’, The Wrap, November 25, 2023, at https://www.thewrap.com/bbc-errors-gaza-hospital-explosi-al-ahli-jeremy-bowen/.

• Kaye, Dalia Dassa. (2023) Will the War in Gaza Ignite the Middle East? Escalating Violence Could Set Israel and Iran on a Collision Course, Foreign Affairs, October 19, at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/will-war-gaza-ignite-middle-east.

• Kersten, Mark. (2023)The ICC should urgently investigate what happened at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Al Jazeera, 26 October, at https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/26/the-icc-should-urgently-investigate-what-happened-at-al-ahli-arab-hospital.

• Korach, Natalie. (2023)Media Struggles to Sort Fact From Fiction in Israel-Gaza War as Real-Time News Drives Deadly Results,The Wrap, October 20, 2023, at https://www.thewrap.com/media-fact-from-fiction-israel-gaza-war.

• Mahase, E. (2023). Israel and Gaza: MSF calls for end to “indiscriminate violence and collective punishment”. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 383 doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2383.

• Murphy, Paul P. Polglase, Katie. Brown, Benjamin. Mezzofiore, Gianluca. Mackintosh, Eliza. (2023)CNN Investigates: Forensic analysis of images and videos suggests rocket caused Gaza hospital blast, not Israeli airstrike, CNN, November 2, at https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/21/middleeast/cnn-investigates-forensic-analysis-gaza-hospital-blast/index.html.

• P. W., Singer.and Emerson T., Brooking (2023) Gaza and the Future of Information Warfare.The Digital Front of the Israel-Hamas Conflict Is a Preview of Fights to Come, Foreign Affairs, December 5, at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/gaza-and-future-information-warfare.

• Ram, Y., & Antebi, L. (2023). Deep Fake in Swords of Iron: A Battle for Public Opinion. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep54267.

• Rubinstein-Shemer, Nesya. Flamer, Netanel. (2023) Projective Psychological Warfare (PPW): an analysis of Hamas Hebrew video clips as part of its propaganda campaign against Israel (2007–2014), Middle Eastern Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2023.2186859 at https://0z11nd82g-y-https-www-tandfonline-com.z.e-nformation.ro/doi/full/10.1080/00263206.2023.2186859.

• Samuel, M.T. (2023), The Israel-Hamas War: Historical Context and International Law, https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12723 at: https://0z11hd82m-y-https-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.z.e-nformation.ro/doi/10.1111/mepo.12723.

• Schweitzer, Y., & Siman-Tov, D. (2022). The Cognitive War between Israel and Hamas: Implications and Recommendations. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep42560.

• See Liberation, a French leftist journal observing the journalism rules.

• Seurat,Leila. (2023)Hamas’s Goal in Gaza. The Strategy That Led to the War - and What It Means for the Future, in Foreign Affairs, December 11, at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/hamass-goal-gaza.

• Sidiropoulos, George. Kiourt, Chairi. Moussiades, Lefteris. (2020) Crowd simulation for crisis management: The outcomes of the last decade, in Machine learning with applications, Vol.2, 15 December 2020, at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827020300098?via%3Dihub.

• Siman-Tov, D., Michlin-Shapir, V., & Fridman, O. (2023). From Hasbara (Public Diplomacy) to Influence in the Gaza War. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep54534.

• Simons, Greg. Chifu, Iulian. (2017) The Changing Face of Warfare in the 21st Century, Routledge.

• Stern, Eric K. (2001). Crisis Decisionmaking. A Cognitive-Institutional Approach, CRISMART, Stockholm.

• Vilchis, N. B. H. (2023). Fighting Islamophobia Through Preservation of Memory. A Case Study: Palestinian Journalism. Islamophobia Studies Journal, 8(1), 10–24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48752325; Tobitt,Charlotte. (2023)Complaints about BBC coverage of Israel-Hamas war are not upheld, The Wire, 24 November, at https://pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/newspaper-corrections-media-mistakes-errors-legal/complaints-about-bbc-coverage-of-israel-hamas-war-are-not-upheld/.

• White House Statement. (2023).18th October, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/18/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-call-with-president-abdel-fattah-al-sisi-of-egypt-3/.

• Winter, O. (2014). Operation Protective Edge: Hamas’ Propaganda War. Institute for National Security Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep08603.

Published
2024-04-28