The conflict between Israel and Hamas has once again demonstrated the importance of Web 2.0 in the struggle for public opinion. Israel’s Ministry of Defense recently established its own YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk, showing videos of Israeli attacks on Hamas. Hamas also uses its website to distribute news. In addition to official sources, Web 2.0 contains numerous private blogs devoted to information about the war in Gaza. As during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the microblogging service Twitter, where short messages are published, plays an important role. Official bodies are also now using the medium to distribute news. The Israeli consulate in New York, for example, has launched a Twitter feed that attracted 2,900 subscribers within a week, CNET reports.
Several blogs also provide information directly from the Gaza Strip, including those of journalist Sameh Habeeb at http://www.nowpublic.com/sameh-habeeb and Canadian human-rights lawyer and journalist Eva Bartlett at http://ingaza.wordpress.com/, both of whom are in Gaza. The Huffington Post is also covering events in Gaza extensively, while a new blog entry containing the word “Gaza” appears about every five minutes on the WordPress blog host at http://wordpress.com/tag/gaza-strip. Thousands of discussion posts tagged with the keyword “Gaza” can also be found on Twitter at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23gaza.
According to an Israeli government spokesperson, the Israeli military’s YouTube videos are an attempt to reach young people. Numerous YouTube users classified the videos as inappropriate, however, and they were temporarily removed. Although all the Israeli military’s videos are now available on YouTube again, Fox News reports that Israel is planning an independent blog where videos can be published without restrictions. One video attracted particular attention, appearing to show Hamas fighters loading a truck with rockets before being struck by an Israeli military missile. Several sources, including Israeli human-rights organization B’Tselem, have since reported that the victims were actually civilians loading the truck with gas cylinders.