10 Reasons Hamas is Winning on Social Media

I recently pleaded in these pages for a new approach to fighting anti-Israel propaganda. Fighting anti-Israel invective through efforts to educate, however well-intentioned, has been an unmitigated disaster. The browbeating of opponents in debates that sometimes gives us relief, does so at great expense. Now, with thousands on TikTok openly praising Osama bin Laden as some visionary, we can no longer afford to do the same thing and expect a different outcome if we just do more of it. We need a sea change, now, to completely break with what has been done so far. 

Things on social media are bad. TikTok feels like Ramallah. Our campuses are bastions of intolerance, violence, and backwardness. According to polls, over 50% of GenZ justify the attacks of October 7 — all while denying their atrocities. 

It is tempting to ascribe this all to antisemitism, that shapeless monster we’re told from birth is stalking us at every corner. But it isn’t so. It certainly doesn’t help to reduce the present insanity to, well, insanity. The propaganda of the 1930s should have made clear that hatred is built; it is not innate. The soil that nurtures it is a compost of fear, isolation and uncertainty – as well as our complacency. Antisemitism is the outcome, not the cause. The support for jihad that we are witnessing is the tipping point of a 40-year campaign to seduce the left, and the youth. 

Here are ten reasons Hamas is winning:

1 – They know their audience. They don’t seek to educate their audiences — instead they know what their audiences need to feel. Gen Z and Gen Y are marinating in anxiety and mental health issues. Anti-Israel activists offer them an easy way to feel safe, valued and filled with purpose.

Young people don’t support Islamists because they agree with them; they agree with Islamists because it is less scary than opposing them. They have joined those they cannot beat.

Young people don’t support Islamists because they agree with them; they agree with Islamists because it is less scary than opposing them. They have joined those they cannot beat. It allows one to feel part of something bigger, on the cheap. As a perk, one gets to throw things at the police, rebel against parents, act dictatorial. Anti-Israel activism is indulgence with a halo, a safe space at the center of the source of danger itself.

2 – They speak like their audience. In academic circles, they wax pedantic, adopting the jargon of deconstruction. In unions, they speak laborese. To kindergartens, they offer children’s books, brightly colored. On TikTok, they post the ideological equivalent of eating Tide pods. On Twitter, sanctimony is the order of the day. And they always translate the jihadi values they hold to the language of their audience. 

3 – They target emotions. In addition to providing a sense of belonging, meaning and self-worth, they mercilessly exploit compassion by casting themselves as victims and using the tragic and real suffering of Palestinian children, context be damned. The result? Their supporters can enjoy feeling pity, righteous indignation, and the dopamine release of doing good. Our pompous debaters, meanwhile, trigger a cascade of cortisol in audiences, when not causing narcolepsy. 

4 – They make it easy. No one wants complicated. So Hamas supporters make their claims into jingles, their accusations into rhymes, their tenets into taglines. And all to compelling, colorful visuals. 

5 – They are there when it matters. Anti-Israel activists were marching in Ferguson from the start. Within days, “From Ferguson to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime” had completely eclipsed the legitimate grievances of Black Americans. Anti-Israel activists have similarly cultivated reciprocity with feminists, LGBTQ, Native Americans, and with Latino student associations (who as a result detest Zionism, the model for liberation they should instead imitate). Anti-Israel activists readily walk the walk and, as a result, their allies adopt their talk. 

6 – They know we stay aloof – or will help them. We often stick to our own kind – and therefore are easy to isolate and slander. The charismatic and integrated among us will readily take a knee for others but far less often stand erect for their own. Our master storytellers in Hollywood and Madison Avenue have at best been hesitant in using their superpowers to our benefit. It is defenseless, often meek students on campus or online who bear the burden of defending our people against calumny as precursor to mass murder. The bullying one faces when defending Israel makes anti-Zionism, for scores of Jews, too enticing. The need to feel accepted is too strong in our traumatized people for some to perpetually fight, let alone at the age of 20. Israel is by no means blameless – but to side with Hamas against the idea of Jewish statehood itself, as countless Jews loudly do today, is a cry for help, not justice. Our enemies know all of this.

7 – They make an effort to look appealing. People are drawn to beauty, rebelliousness, charm. Our detractors harness all of these qualities to their brand. Their spokesmen are young, often beautiful women, and always charismatic and confident. They integrate into the right milieus. To this, we oppose our elders who unintelligibly —4 to any young person — pontificate about the Holocaust or preach tolerance. But the currency of tolerance is appeal. The antidote to contempt is infatuation. 

8 – They use the authorities to their benefit. They issue complaints, report posts, file lawsuits, recruit NGOs and activists. They make sure their grievances are on record. They take action. 

9 – They repeat. Their benefactors don’t expect immediate results nor do they set impossible demands of measurable success. Likening Palestinians to black victims of apartheid made no sense when it was first done. It would have failed every test by survey or focus group. But they stuck to it, despite being mocked by many Jewish leaders. Today, that accusation embodies common sense itself for young generations. Because common sense is nothing but that which is repeated. 

10 – They pick their battles, and they adapt. How many went dizzy over the menace of the alt-right? Elon Musk makes an unartful yet mostly innocuous statement, and we pounce. But massively powerful unions, pensions and universities, largely funded by us, become completely coopted by terrorist mindsets for decades and we say almost nothing – except to keep donating to these same institutions. Hamas supporters never lose track of their objectives. Meanwhile, many of our institutions are stuck fighting the dangers of 1943 in 2023.

They focus on people, while we focus on ideas. And so we fail. But as the wise man once said, “Knowing is half the battle.” By shifting to an intelligent, psychology- and research-based approach, one animated by strategy, driven by empathy and supported by true, long-term commitment, we can very much improve things. I have done and seen it. Do we have a choice?

Philippe Assouline is an opinion researcher and communication strategist who has led both political and election campaigns around the world. He is the CEO & Founder of PropellorIQ.