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For five years (1990-95) as a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, I managed U.S. assistance to the Egyptian State Information Service’s promotional projects for the country’s development goals. I therefore have some experience in persuasion.
Israel must engage in full-scale psychological warfare
Israel urgently needs to go beyond its good PR information activities in Arabic and move to full-blown psychological warfare. The latter is a domain in itself that goes beyond explaining Israel’s position to foreign media, whether in Arabic or not. Concrete examples come to mind of ‘bombing’ Gaza and Lebanon with psychological measures to influence the hearts and minds of the local population, even if only a few are affected at first:
A Lebanese flag with the text “Free Lebanon from Hezbollah.” (Photo: AARON BRAUNSTEIN)
- Large numbers of children’s flags were dropped over Gaza, with the text in Arabic: “Free Gaza from Hamas.”
- The same happened with airstrikes over Lebanon, with the words in Arabic: “Liberate Lebanon from Hezbollah.”
These messages should resonate locally and internationally far beyond the current theater of operations. They and others to combat and defeat the idea of Islamism should be discussed within a future national directorate for psychological warfare, which is still in the process of being created. Those who say that Fatah is an even greater threat to Israel than Hamas are confused about what war Israel is currently fighting. Fatah can wait until after the defeat of Hamas, when Fatah may be more inclined to compromise.
All this also raises serious questions about what the state controller will check regarding the failures up to October 7 and beyond. Operational investigations must be carried out in real time to improve military effectiveness and find out what psychological initiatives would have contributed to greater success.
In the current war, it is not only about questioning the actions taken, but also about asking for answers about potentially useful actions that were not taken and why. Government and security services should implement large-scale psychological warfare that is attuned to the enemy’s psyche; and if it does not, they should understand why.
Perhaps because of a deplorable disregard for the enemy, because of political disagreements over messages or other loose ideas. Some who still suffer from the pre-October arrogance might claim that “they” are uninfluenceable. However, only a few percent can make a difference. This is especially true when the war is in progress and certain psychological initiatives can result in additional enemy surrenders, which would save the lives of troops and hostages. The families of the latter demand answers. Whatever psychological measures are now decided upon, if any, must conform to two essential basic rules:
- Work within the terrorists’ own mindset and so-called religious framework. One of the terrorists who surrendered in Gaza stated in a recorded testimony that Satan (not Allah) had him raped.
- Decide in advance that victory itself is the endgame, not the promotion of one’s political ideology or agenda. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the Allies did not hesitate to ally themselves with such an “evil empire” to defeat Nazism militarily, even though there were some misguided voices who promoted a pox on both.
Hopefully, America sees itself in this war with Israel – the latter on the front lines in the Middle East, with America in the background. Both should work together in psychological warfare, not just weaponry, for the good of all peoples in the region and beyond.
The problem, then, is not the validity of one psychological measure over another, but a complete revision of such a strategy or lack thereof at this time. If such targeted psychological initiatives are not considered during the war, they should at least be part of future state control afterward – belatedly, not for this war and all its victims.■
The author, who lives in Jerusalem, is an American-born, retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, board member of the Israel Interfaith Association, RA, and founder of the nonsectarian Jewish Covenant Alliance, RA (JCA) (www.covenantalliance.org), which is committed to Jewish service to the nations in the fight against global totalitarian evil.
