# Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** israel-hamas-war\ **Created:** [October 9, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317 "2023-10-09T15:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 246
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5038 "2025-08-12T01:29:25Z")
No, it’s only the dead journalists. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5039 "2025-08-12T01:29:44Z")
Well, an awfully large fraction of them have been killed by the IDF. I mean, really, it’s a huge toll of journalists compared to any other war. And they are journalists that are considered friends and peers by international journalists, they aren’t mysterious bylines. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5040 "2025-08-12T01:55:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not to mention Hamas who hijack aid food and sell it to their own people. …NO. This is a _talking point_. And has nothing to do with the deliberately engineered famine that everybody knows is the responsibility of Israel. Every single humanitarian agency on the ground agree that Hamas weren’t doing this, not to any verifiable degree that mattered. The famine was engineered by Israel restricting the amount of food and aid allowed in followed by the near total siege for three months by Israel earlier this year, followed by the setting up of only FOUR food distribution points in the south, in central Gaza, but noticeably not in the north. Everybody on the ground _knows_ who is responsible for this. And people will remember that for generations. That time when Israel starved the people of Gaza. That will forever be their legacy. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Cite? A quick google search said that is not true. > **[Hamas ready to cede control of Gaza, official says](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-ready-cede-control-gaza-official-says-rcna194042)** > > “We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance,” Basem Naim, a senior political official for Hamas, told NBC News. > [@NBC](#): > > “We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance to hand it over to a body, a government, a committee, that is [ready to run the Gaza Strip](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/deranged-problematic-bipartisan-lawmakers-bash-trumps-gaza-proposal-rcna190733),” Naim said. > [@DrDeth](#): > > No, Many jewish people in the US and even in israel do not support any such thing. If you support the current strategy in Gaza, which includes forced “evacuations” which have confined Palestinians to less than 10% of their land, which includes the flattening of Rafah and the wholesale [destruction](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/05/wasteland-rubble-dust-graves-how-gaza-looks-from-the-sky) of houses, churches, mosques, universities, schools, of the destruction of the Gazan healthcare system, of the things that people need to just LIVE, then yes, you support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. > [@DrDeth](#): > > He did with the period of Military aid cutoff- which was legal, private calls, and of course aid to gaza. That didn’t discourage Netanyahu. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Netanyahu ignored Biden, Biden cut off weapons for a short period, all he could do legally. In November? No Biden didn’t. Why did they threaten to do something you claim they legally couldn’t do? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Aljazeera? 🙄 You know, I knew you were going to object to that article. But two things: Firstly: the information is a matter of public record. Everything is independently verifiable, in fact, I _personally_ independently verified it before I posted the link. I could have chosen one of the links I used to verify it. But I decided: to hell with it. Yesterday, the IDF murdered five Al-Jazeera journalists in Gaza. That was, apparently, the entire Al-Jazeera team on the ground in Gaza. The journalists in Gaza are the best of humanity. They are being hunted like animals. So yes, that was a link to Al-Jazeera. Thanks for pointing it out. Al-Jazeera reporters don’t deserve to get murdered. > [@DrDeth](#): > > And you claimed he did nothing. Quote “ I made no claims about what FDR _actually_ did. > [@DrDeth](#): > > All false. Yes! Its false! I wasn’t claiming he did this! It was an _analogy_. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Condemning things does _nothing._ Rubbish. Condemning things _tells us where you stand_. And if you aren’t condemning blatant and obvious war crimes, (and lets be crystal clear about this, Israel commits at least one blatant and obvious war crime every single day in Gaza and the West Bank, often they commit multiple war crimes a day) then It’s fair to assume you support those war crimes. And that goes _double_ for the President of the United States of America. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5041 "2025-08-12T02:12:56Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > …there are two parties here. Hamas, and the IDF. Who exactly do you want independent confirmation from? …there are _multiple_ parties. UNRWA, for example, are NOT Hamas, but they ARE a party. They’ve requested evidence multiple times for multiple accusations so that it could be independently verified. Those requests have been refused. Or the claims about hospitals. Israel could let international journalists in. But its pretty obvious why Israel _won’t_ let international journalists in. Do you remember when they claimed there was gold hidden under hospitals in Lebanon? So international journalists immediately explored the hospitals looking for that gold but they didn’t find any? > **[BBC tours hospital Israel says sits above Hezbollah gold](https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c9818n8v7d8o)** > > The BBC’s Orla Guerin is taken on a tour of Al Sahel Hospital in Beirut. And the reason they didn’t find any gold is because it was all a _big fucking lie._ Because the IDF _lie all the time_. When information is independently verifiable, it gets caught immediately. Which is exactly why they don’t allow the “evidence” to face independent scrutiny. > [@Babale](#): > > Do you think Al Jazeera is going to _admit_ that they’re funding Hamas fighters? Is this a new claim now? Or by “funding” do you mean paying them to do their jobs as journalists? Or do you mean something else? And other news organisations exist. I doubt that Al Jazeera would object if Israel handed information over to the BBC. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5042 "2025-08-12T02:40:18Z")
…here is Foreign Press Association president Ian Williams repeating basically everything I just said on CNN: (twitter link) > [@](#): > > WATCH | Foreign Press Association president Ian Williams rejected CNN’s framing that echoed Israeli military talking points to justify murdering Anas Al-Sharif. > > “Frankly, I don’t care whether Al-Sharif was in Hamas or not. We don’t kill journalists for being Republicans or Democrats or, in Britain, Labour Party,” he said, adding that Al-Sharif worked “24 hours” and couldn’t possibly “have time to work in a cell on the side.” > ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5043 "2025-08-12T02:54:09Z")
How about confirmation from respected international news agencies like AP or Reuters? Oh, wait, the IDF won’t let them into Gaza! I think it’s a good general rule to assume that the party actively preventing journalists from reporting on its actions is probably lying. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5044 "2025-08-12T05:40:09Z")
> And you are ignoring something fundamental here: Hamas _has agreed to step down_. > The people of Gaza don’t have to “throw off Hamas.” Its already over. It was over the moment Hamas terrorists committed atrocities on October the 7th. I disagree. If, for example, Israel had opted for a more limited response to 10/7 instead of a full blown invasion, such as the international community could endorse at the time, I think it very unlikely that Hamas would agree to step down by today. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5045 "2025-08-12T06:56:19Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > If, for example, Israel had opted for a more limited response to 10/7 When have they _ever_ done “limited response”? Massively disproportionate collective punishment has always been their SOP - just look at their punitive demolition policy. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5046 "2025-08-12T12:33:38Z")
A [_New York Times_ opinion piece](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/opinion/israel-gaza-starvation-aid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dk8.rAAj.ntcJpre58wfm&smid=url-share) looks at how government disinformation, media self-censorship, and post-October-7 trauma have led many Israelis to deny or ignore the deliberate starvation of Gazans. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5047 "2025-08-12T13:09:28Z")
I can tell you that I recently talked to someone in Israel who said that reports of anyone starving were fake news and you are gullible for falling for such propaganda… because that is what _she_ heard on the news. It is not like any respected journalists can go and report from there. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5048 "2025-08-12T14:14:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The people of Gaza could get tired of the attacks, harassment, mis-government, aid-theft, etc, and throw off Hamas. How? They’re in the middle of a war, being bombed, starved, displaced from their homes, etc. They’re fully occupied just trying to survive. > [@DrDeth](#): > > what- EXACTLY- could Biden do to end the violence in Gaza? Ban selling US weapons and spare parts to Israel. They do manufacture a lot of their own, but this would still be pretty crippling AIUI. I don’t think it’s enough leverage to stop the war, but the threat would probably be enough to force Israel to start allowing food and other aid back into Gaza and stop other human rights abuses. > [@Thing.Fish](#): > > How about confirmation from respected international news agencies like AP or Reuters? Oh, wait, the IDF won’t let them into Gaza! > > I think it’s a good general rule to assume that the party actively preventing journalists from reporting on its actions is probably lying. Yeah. Israel let international journalists fly over Gaza, but forbade them from filming. They won’t let any of them in; the journalists are reporting from nearby towns, looking at Gaza through binoculars. And journalists inside Gaza are continually being targeted. How anyone could fail to find this suspicious is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5049 "2025-08-12T19:01:26Z")
Great interview of an Israeli journalist, on Netanyahu and Israel’s plans for Gaza: [https://archive.ph/ZLHnK](https://archive.ph/ZLHnK) It supports something I’ve long argued - Netanyahu’s main goal is to prolong the war in order to stay in power. Further, while starvation of Gazans is not the direct goal of the IDF and GHF, they basically don’t care, which to me is the same thing, functionally speaking, as intentional starvation. > What he is interested in, for his political survival, is prolonging the war. It’s the best excuse for not doing anything else domestically, including not launching an independent investigation of October 7th. His corruption trial would probably be delayed if there’s hectic fighting going on. > Q: Seems like, at the very least, they do not care. > A: That’s my suspicion as well. And you didn’t see a lot of sympathy among Israeli leaders about starvation. Only when the world woke up did this finally become a crisis for the government. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5050 "2025-08-12T19:59:17Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > How about confirmation from respected international news agencies like AP or Reuters? Oh, wait, the IDF won’t let them into Gaza! Then how does Aljazeera get its reporter on the ground? Or does it rely on Hamas, etc? > [@DemonTree](#): > > Ban selling US weapons and spare parts to Israel. As i pointed out, the President does not have the authority to do so, except on a limited “emergency” basis. And a hostile Congress and SCOTUS would leap on any violations. Not to mention- it would be political suicide. > [@DemonTree](#): > > They do manufacture a lot of their own, but this would still be pretty crippling AIUI. The USA only supplies 15% of the IDFs budget, and a large portion of that is sophisticated missile defence, vs Iraq. The IDF could easily go on doing what they have been doing in Gaza without American aid. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5051 "2025-08-12T20:06:47Z")
It would be, _at the very least_, a start. We, the US, are funding genocide. We should not give israel a dime. It makes us complicit in their crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5052 "2025-08-12T22:28:09Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I disagree. …what are you disagreeing about? It was over for Hamas, in some way or the other, after the October 7th atrocities. There was no coming back from that, even with a more restrained response. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Then how does Aljazeera get its reporter on the ground? They hired locals. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Not to mention- it would be political suicide. The Democrats have lost the House, the Senate, the Executive and the Supreme Court. Perhaps their political instincts just aren’t that great. And maybe doing something different wouldn’t have been political suicide after all. Shame we will never find out. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5053 "2025-08-12T23:07:11Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …and it sounds like they got Motasem. …it sounds like, fortunately, they didn’t get Motasem. He is proving difficult to kill. > [@](#): > > Salams > Al Hamdu Lillah, me and my children are ok. > > Six women and children were KILLED and three wounded in the Israeli artillery fire targeted our residence yesterday evening. > > It was a horrible massacre. We are still living the worst traumatic moments of the Israeli attack! > > We’re still in the streets without having anywhere to go.. > > Thanks a lot for everyone asked about us.. > > I will be back soon! > ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5054 "2025-08-12T23:45:27Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > The Democrats have lost the House, the Senate, the Executive and the Supreme Court. Pundits say the Dems should retake the House in 2026, and who knows what’s gonna happen in 2028? Do you want to just give up entirely and let the MAGAs run the nation forever? > [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > They hired locals. Of course- _unbiased_ locals.🙄 Who would never let armed Hamas terrorists tell them what to write. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5055 "2025-08-13T01:26:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Pundits say the Dems should retake the House in 2026, and who knows what’s gonna happen in 2028? …pundits said that Harris was going to win. That Hillary Clinton was going to win. The pundits got it wrong. So who knows what is gonna happen in 2026? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Do you want to just give up entirely and let the MAGAs run the nation forever? I want the exact opposite. And I think doing the exact same thing they did at the last round of elections is going to end up with the very same result. I think it’s political suicide to adopt the very same failing strategies, and perhaps it’s time to listen to what the American people want instead of the lobby groups. From Al Jazeera: > **[New poll shows plunging US public support for Israel’s war on Gaza](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/29/new-poll-shows-plunging-us-public-support-for-israels-war-on-gaza)** > > Only 32 percent of survey respondents said they approve of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, down 10 points from last year. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Of course- _unbiased_ locals.🙄 Here is video of an Israeli reporter blowing up a house in Lebanon. > Do you think he was unbiased? How many Israeli reporters are former IDF soldiers? It would be nearly all of them, wouldn’t it. So should we be trusting anything coming out of Israel reporting at all, or should we acknowledge that, and take each piece of individual reporting on its merits? How about all of the reporters in the US that work for Sinclair? Or BBC reporters who won’t report on things because of DSMA Standing Notice 03? Bias is inherent. And reporters face restrictions all over the world. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Who would never let armed Hamas terrorists tell them what to write. Reporters in Gaza have much more to fear from the IDF than Hamas. > **[Killing of journalists in the Gaza war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_journalists_in_the_Gaza_war)** > > The killing of journalists in the Gaza war, overwhelmingly Palestinian, along with other acts of violence against journalists, marks the deadliest period for journalists in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since 1992 and the single deadliest conflict for journalists among all known conflicts in the history of the world. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) counted 178 journalists who were killed (176 Palestinian and 2 Israeli), as of 12 June 2025\[update\], and the International F The Gaza media office puts the number at 217. Every single one of them killed by Israeli forces. The people trying to intimidate Palestinian reporters into silence isn’t Hamas. And most of what we see and hear from Palestinian reporters isn’t written (although some of it is) but much of it is _live-streamed_. And no, it doesn’t have to be run past a “propaganda office.” No, there aren’t Hamas terrorists just over their shoulders telling them what to say. Live-streaming has a way of bypassing all of that. Despite the daily threat of getting bombed to oblivion by the IDF, the reporters in Gaza _keep turning up_. They deserve our _utmost respect_. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5056 "2025-08-13T22:45:56Z")
…the IDF have investigated themselves and determined that no, they aren’t responsible for the famine. Those that have died of starvation so far had pre-existing conditions. So they don’t matter. Apparently. > [@The IDF](#): > > EXPOSED: Hamas’ “Starvation Campaign” has been debunked by an in-depth IDF review. Misleading publication of malnutrition data & images of patients with pre-existing conditions have been used to discredit Israel and achieve political gains. > > Gaza’s Ministry of Health claims 133+ malnutrition deaths in July alone, but failed to share identities. Following the in-depth review, only a handful of cases were verified. > > Case analysis: Most “malnutrition” deaths were due to severe pre-existing conditions, some even received medical treatment in Israel prior to the war. 1/4 > > Example: 4 year-old Abdullah Hanu Muhammad Abu Zarqa has a genetic disease causing deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning. 4 months before the outbreak of the war, he traveled with his mother to receive medical treatement in East Jerusalem. 2/4 > > Another example: 27 year-old Karam Khaled Mustafa al-Jamal died from lifelong muscular dystrophy & partial paralysis, not hunger. 3/4 > > The expert review concluded that there are no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza. > > Hamas cynically exploits tragic images and misuses them for a false and timed propaganda campaign aimed at generating pressure and creating negative public opinion against Israel. The IDF, through COGAT, will continue working to improve the humanitarian response in Gaza, in cooperation with the intl. community, while rejecting allegations of famine in Gaza. 4/4 Nothing to see here, folks. > ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5057 "2025-08-16T00:09:28Z")
The IDF has a “Legitimization Cell” tasked with finding (or making up) information to blunt criticism of its actions. It sounds like the accuracy of the data is not much of a concern. > A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports. > … > Israel has produced an unconvincing dossier of unverified evidence on Anas al-Sharif’s purported Hamas links, and failed to address how he would have juggled a military command role with regular broadcast duties in one of the most heavily surveilled places on Earth. Israel did not attempt to justify killing his three colleagues. > > Before the attack, press freedom groups and Sharif himself had warned that Israeli accusations of Hamas links, first made in 2024, were designed to “manufacture consent to kill”. They had been revived and repeated with increasing frequency after his reporting on famine in Gaza went viral. > **[Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/israeli-military-unit-reportedly-tasked-with-linking-journalists-in-gaza-to-hamas)** > > Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staff [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317.md?page=245) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317.md?page=247)