IDF's New Media - War Propaganda Through Social Media

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No surprises here as I read the article in Wired.com, a link to IDFblog.com had disappeared. The challenge is to find traces on the Internet to what was published. All pages had vanished, including the WayBackMachine archived pages. By chance I did find a registrar link to the IDF blog in Jerusalem and an email address: sacha@dratwa.co.il . From there it leads to a new war room for the IDF Armed Forces: Meet the head of the IDF’s New Media desk.

« click for LinkedIn profile

Israel Kills Hamas Leader, Instantly Posts It to YouTube

(Wired.com) – During the last major assault on Gaza — 2009′s “Operation Cast Lead” — the IDF did embed camera crews in its combat units. But they were there primarily to defend troops against accusations of war crimes. Drone strike footage was shown to reporters, but only days after the attacks. Meanwhile, a young Israeli soldier — born in a small town in Hawaii, and converted to Judaism at Yale — got together with another American Israeli who thought it’d be cool to share some of those videos online. That became the IDF’s official YouTube channel, unexpectedly generating millions and millions of views. But social media (and information operations, generally) remained on the periphery of Israeli planning.

« click twitter IDF spokesperson

This time, things are different. After spotting a long-range Fajr-5 rocket in an underground launch site, the IDF quickly uploaded the surveillance footage to YouTube (see above), and tweeted a Google Maps-style picture of the launcher’s location in the town of Zeitoun. After killing Jabari, the IDF posted to its blog something of a rap sheet [IDFblog.com has disappeared, link to registration trace of blog – Oui] on the longtime leader of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, including his alleged role in the kidnapping of young soldier Gilad Shalit.

Specifics website and server located in Wichita, Kansas USA
Host: idfblog.com IP 108.166.173.229 Domain server: ns1.wecreatestuff.com

Of course, the official Israeli obituary of Jabari leaves out a few rather meaningful items, like the fact that he was Israeli’s de facto partner and ally over the last several years. After Cast Lead, Israel and Hamas made a deal: the Islamic group would keep Gaza’s array of militant movements in check, and Israel would keep the aid trucks and the cash flowing. The man responsible for keeping the peace: Ahmed al-Jabari.

It worked for a while. But in recent weeks, the rockets began flying again, and Jerusalem became displeased with its “subcontractor,” as the ace Israel military observer Aluf Benn puts it. Jabari was openly warned to step it up, and then executed when he did not.

The message was simple and clear: You failed – you’re dead.
Or, as Defense Minister Ehud Barak likes to say, “In the
Middle East there is no second chance for the weak.”

Will Twitter war become the new norm?

Israeli ‘Operation’ Politically Motivated?

Israeli Air Force kills Hamas military leader — IDF mobilised

(Digital Journal) – Israel’s Operation Cloud Pillar against Gaza terrorists has begun with the assassination of 52-year-old Ahmed Al-Jabari, who ran the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. Al-Jabari’s son was also killed in the car hit by the IDF.

Ynet news and the IDF report that after IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz approved the detailed plan, besides thetargeted attack on Al-Jabari, Israel forces wiped out at least 20 long-range rocket launching pads, weapons building and underground rocket launching capabilities. Additional Israeli infantry units have moved south whilst Israeli reservists have been mobilised.

According to the Jerusalem Post Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamist movement, says this is a declaration of war and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades have vowed to avenge the killing of Ahmed Al-Jabari.