Vantage | Why Hamas can never win the narrative battle in this war

There’s another front in this war that’s shaping how we see it, the narrative battle. Since Hamas attacked Israel last week, you’ve been seeing new horrors every day. From the kidnappings at the music festival, to the destroyed Kibbutz, to now, the devastation in Gaza, both sides are sharing images. Images that show indescribable horrors. The idea is to highlight the other side’s barbarity to evoke sympathy and then to justify their side’s actions. These pictures leave you shocked and angry, they also leave you confused. They breed moral confusion, they blur the line between who is right and who’s not. All this is by design. This is what they’re meant to do: to appeal to your humanity and to make you question the motives of both sides. Watch:

Read between the lines This is problematic and dangerous, and this what we want to address here. Drawing moral equivalence in this battle is plain wrong because on one side is a military and on the other is a terrorist organisation. This war was triggered by Hamas. That’s where this round of violence began. It’s important to remember that. Israel’s primary target is the Hamas, but Hamas’ primary targets were Israeli civilians. You cannot compare the two. In the weeks ahead, the pictures from Gaza will look much worse and they will make Israel look like the bigger threat to peace. So, it’s important to not lose sight of the big picture: innocent people have died on both sides including innocent children, reportedly hundreds of them and now they’ve become ammunition in this narrative war. Visuals of their bodies are being circulated. It’s horrific and the narratives surrounding them are just as terrible. Using pictures of dead babies in Gaza to justify the Hamas attack is reprehensible. Nothing can justify last week’s assault, it was a terrorist attack, one that deliberately targeted civilians. Hamas and Israel have been old enemies, both have accused each other of atrocities, but old grievances and anger cannot be directed at non-combatants. That is a war crime. Taking hostages, deliberately killing innocents - these are crimes. Wherever you stand on the Palestinian issue, you cannot defend Hamas. Don’t forget And at this point, we must underline this: Hamas is not Palestine. The actions of Hamas do not have to be conflated with the Palestinian cause. They attacked Israel despite knowing the consequences. They knew what would happen, they knew the sheer force Israel was capable of deploying, they knew innocents would get caught in the crossfire, but Hamas attacked anyway. Did they think they could win? No. Did they think they would deliver any real, long-term solution? No. Then why did they attack? Simply to inflict pain. But that pain isn’t limited to Israel. Hamas have regularly used Palestinians in Gaza as human shields. Even now, many will find it difficult to escape their grasp. Israel has given Gazans 24 hours to move to the south. Even if they want to, many cannot. Hamas won’t let them. The same Palestinians that Hamas claims to represent will be used as cannon fodder. How then can anyone rationalise their actions? It takes ethical and moral clarity to accept what is wrong. Neither Hamas, nor their supporters have it. The author is an independent journalist and columnist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.