By Azra Ali
The ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict which has become a nightmare for humanity has led to a casualty of more than 9,000 Palestinians, with more than 1400 people killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel. People around the world are expressing their outrage over innumerable killings of children and hostile conditions in Gaza with hashtags #FreePalestine, #PalestineLivesMatter.
People putting this image as display picture showing solidarity for Palestine
Global outrage
The global outrage against IDF’s military retaliation has been described as “disproportionate” and “collective punishment” by several countries which has grown dramatically.
The Jordanian resolution adopted by United Nations General Assembly calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” got an overwhelming support with 120 Member States backing it.
Another resolution proposed by Canada backed by 35 Member States including the United States seeking condemnation of Hamas and its attacks on Southern Israel on October 7, failed to garner enough support among the Member States.
The military retaliation by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) with Israel launching hundred of airstrikes on Gaza continuing for nearly a month now has killed more than 4,000 Palestinian children according to the Palestinian health ministry accompanied by a “complete siege” of Gaza by Israel, with the Israeli defense minister declaring : “There will be no electricity,no food, no fuel. ”
Pro- Palestine sentiment on social media
According to Axios, around 285 million TikToK users viewed around 87,000 posts with hashtags #standwithPalestine between 23 October and 30 October. Globally, there have been 210,000 posts using the hashtag #StandwithPalestine and 17,000 using the hashtag #StandwithIsrael since October 16.
Feroze Mithiborwala head of the India-Palestine Solidarity Forum told Times Headline that Israel had already lost the “war of perception” to Palestine. The pro-Palestinian activist noted that even Opeds in Israeli mainstream media, blamed Netanyahu’s right- wing policies for precipitating the current crisis.
The activist stated that in spite of the pro- Israel line taken by American and western mainstream media, most of the people were being made aware about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza through social media.
However, on the other side of it many Pro-Palestinian activists around the world complained of big social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter taking down the Pro-Palestinian content affecting their reach dramatically.
Pro-Palestinian activist like Subhi with the username sbeih.jpg on Instagram has been trying to educate the masses about the Palestine history and struggle with initiatives like Palestine Academy aiming to create social media Palestine awareness through collective social media mobilization.
Activist Subhi’s page, source: Instagram
Massive Protests demanding a ceasefire
On 4 Nov, thousands of protesters gathered in Washington to demand a ceasefire in Gaza with placards with slogans such as “Palestinian Lives Matter,” “Let Gaza Live” and “Their blood is in on your hands.”
Similar demonstrations demanding a ceasefire took place on 4 November, in various cities including London, Paris, Milan and Dhaka with thousand of protesters condemning the ongoing massacre going on in Gaza.
Protestors at Washington DC, Source : Al Jazeera
Source: Al Jazeera
Indian media narrative
Indian mainstream media perverse obsession with Israel-Palestine conflict was not surprising with their dramatic one-sided reporting. With many prominent journalists like Barkha Dutt and Rubika Liyaqat covering themselves covering the news, there’s a level of sheer performance on display.
Absurd stunts undertaken while reporting like paragliding in Haryana to demonstrate the Hamas attack in Israel. Times Now reporter screaming the ears off of an Israeli soldier.
The popular TV news anchors are busy doing their usual clown act, jumping around, screaming about Israel and Palestine and how it is compulsory that one takes a side.
Source: Personal social media accounts
The role of social media in shaping the narrative of any event can’t be undermined. Especially in the context of massacre happening in Gaza presently, the usage of social media by Palestinians to share the videos showing brutalities have helped in garnering global attention to the genocide happening in Gaza. Vice a versa, social media has been used by pro-Israel supporters to build their own narrative.