The Israel-Hamas war

Analysis: Difficult to distinguish between true and false - don't believe everything  

 

In a society as dependent on technology as the one we live in 2023, it is difficult to distinguish between authentic information and false claims about the war between Israel and Hamas, writes Natalie Sauer in an analysis for The Conversation. With these difficulties, it becomes clear that journalists' attempts to verify information are crucial. It is also important that the public understands how the reporters work so that you as a reader, listener or viewer can feel that you can trust the reporting. 

 

Steven Lee Myers writes in the New York Times that on some social media platforms, such as X, there are so many false claims that some users question what is true. He believes that it is often details in the reporting that can cause this. As an example, he takes the Hamas massacre against the Israeli Kibbutz Kfar Azza. After a journalist on the scene reported that soldiers found decapitated babies in the community, the report went viral, but it is still not confirmed if it is all true.  

 

On the site Vox, AW Ohlheiser tries to give a quick lesson in how to avoid falling into the worst disinformation traps. One of the techniques you can use is called SIFT, for the English "Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context". So it's about taking a step back, reviewing the source, looking for better coverage and tracing claims back to the original source.

 

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Analysis: Can't kill all terrorists without creating more  

 

Despite Israel's military superiority, a possible ground invasion poses great risks for the country in both the short and long term. It will be bloody, the sympathies of the outside world after the Hamas attacks may decrease and the terrorist group's ideas may rather be strengthened, according to analysts and experts.  

 

If Israel pushes back Hamas and captures northern Gaza, the question is what the goal is in the long run, writes Dan Sabbagh in The Guardian. He refers to Middle East expert Hasan Alhasan and former M16 chief Alex Younger who both believe that Hamas can "draw strength" from new generations of Palestinians as a result of Israeli retaliation.  

 

"You cannot kill all terrorists without creating more terrorists".

   

The Israeli defense commentator Amir Bar Shalom finds it difficult to see that Israel should be able to "dismantle" Hamas and he also says that the terrorist group's ideology will not die. However, the group can be weakened to the point that the ability to carry out attacks no longer exists, he tells the BBC.  

 

NBC as well as many other media states that the greatest military difficulty for the Israeli side is the tunnel system built by Hamas. 

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Israel: Ready on several fronts - an attack could happen "soon"  

 

The Israeli military, the IDF, says it is ready for a "combined and coordinated attack" from the air, water and land, reports several media citing an official statement.  

 

Soldiers are said to be deployed all over the country and spokesperson Daniel Hagari says according to Sky News that an attack on Gaza is to be expected "soon", without going into more detail about what that means. 

 

Israel had previously issued a deadline for residents in northern Gaza to evacuate, which expired at 3 p.m. Swedish time. Benjamin Netanyahu met with soldiers on Saturday and talked about the "next step", even without elaborating on what the next step entails. 

 

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Sources: Saudi Arabia puts talks with Israel on hold 

 

Saudi Arabia is suspending talks on a normalization of relations with Israel, sources told AFP on Saturday. 

 

- Saudi Arabia has decided to pause discussions about a possible normalization and has informed US officials about this, says a person familiar with the matter. 

 

During the autumn, the countries' leaders expressed optimism about the relationship. For example, Benjamin Netanyahu said in September that there is a chance to create "a historic peace".

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The warning from Iran: Israel may be exposed to "giant earthquake" by Hezbollah 

Iran issues a stark warning to Israel, reports the Telegraph. The country's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is currently in Lebanon, tells reporters that the Lebanese Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah could "cause a giant earthquake" in Israel. 

He also says that he wants to "warn the war criminals [...] to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza before it's too late, because it could be too late in a few hours."  

Tensions in the border area between Lebanon and Israel have increased in recent days. Hezbollah has shelled several Israeli military posts this week. Assessors fear that a ground offensive against Gaza could be what prompts Hezbollah to enter the war in earnest.

 

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Sources: Iran Says Ready to Intervene - Sees Ground Strikes as 'Red Line'  

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has stated in a conversation with the UN envoy in the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, that Iran will intervene if Israel launches a ground invasion in Gaza. That is according to diplomatic sources for Axios.  

 

A ground invasion is described as a "red line" for Tehran. 

 

The message must have been delivered in connection with an attempt by Wennesland to prevent the conflict from spilling over to other parts of the region.  

 

Earlier in the day, Amir-Abdollahian said that the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah could cause "a giant earthquake" and that it may soon be too late to prevent it.