Leaked Israel lobby presentation urges US officials to justify war on Gaza with 'Hamas rape' claims

Two prominent pro-Israel lobby groups are holding private briefings in New York City to coach elected officials and well-known figures on how to influence public opinion in favor of the Israeli military’s rampage in Gaza, The Grayzone can reveal. These PR sessions, convened by the UJA-Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council, rely on data collected by Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican pollster and pundit.

The Luntz-tested presentations on the war in Gaza urge politicians to avoid trumpeting America’s supposedly shared democratic values with Israel, and focus instead on deploying “The Language of War with Hamas.” According to this framing, they must deploy incendiary language painting Hamas as a “brutal and savage…organization of hate” which has “raped women,” while insisting Israel is engaged in “a war for humanity.”

In one focus group, Luntz asked participants to state which alleged act by Hamas on October 7 “bothers you more.” After being presented with a laundry list of alleged atrocities, a majority declared that they were most upset by the claim that Hamas “raped civilians” – 19 percent than those who expressed outrage that Hamas supposedly “exterminated civilians.”

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/001d5325-3acc-4941-bd59-6bfa5c5c5a4b.png

Data like this apparently influenced the Israeli government to launch an obsessive but still unsuccessful campaign to prove that Hamas carried out sexual assault on a systematic basis on October 7. Initiated at Israel’s United Nations mission in December 2023 with speeches by neoliberal tech oligarch Sheryl Sandberg and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and speaking fees from Israel lobby organizations, Tel Aviv’s propaganda blitz has yet to produce a single self-identified victim of sexual assault by Hamas. A March 5 report by UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten did not contain one direct testimony of sexual assault on October 7. What’s more, Patten’s team said they found “no digital evidence specifically depicting acts of sexual violence.”

dangblingus,

That graph is laughably stupid.

paysrenttobirds,

This whole rape story is bizarre to me. Like whether it’s real or not really doesn’t affect my view of the situation? Am I weird?

Hamas kidnapped people and has executed many of them them --that’s a criminal act of terrorism, supported by foreign governments, requiring military response. However, there’s no way to make Hamas’ actions so bad that indiscriminate genocide of Palestinians becomes appropriate or excusable. I’m offended that these stories are given such importance like they are supposed to change my mind about that.

Feels a little like appealing to some patriarchal emotional bs, like they’re hoping we all fly into a blind rage over it. Maybe Israel is hoping we will pass their guilt off as a “crime of passion”? Feels old-fashioned.

davel,
@davel@lemmy.ml avatar

Hamas kidnapped people and has executed many of them them

How many kidnapees has Hamas executed? From what I’ve heard they’ve been mostly been dying from Israeli bombs and bullets, and from the abysmal conditions that Israel has created. This sounds like yet more Israeli State bullshit.

paysrenttobirds,

Maybe “many” is wrong. My question is whether it matters how many and whether engaging in these debates over minor facts is just playing into their hands.

brain_in_a_box,

It matters when “how many” is zero

paysrenttobirds,

No, listen to me, armed mass kidnapping on this level warrants military intervention. But, even a thousand murders does not warrant genocide. When they’ve got you arguing whether or not someone deserves to be victims of a war crime, you are lost.

brain_in_a_box,

Nah, once they’ve got you making up facts to demonise the Palestinians like you are, you are lost.

davel,
@davel@lemmy.ml avatar

It did not warrant military intervention. In fact, As an Occupier, Israel Has No Right to “Self-Defense”. What were those kidnapped occupiers doing on stolen land in the first place? The occupied Palestinians have a right to struggle against their occupiers by all available means, including armed struggle.

When they’ve got you arguing whether or not someone deserves to be victims of a war crime, you are lost.

Who is this “they”? I don’t know what hypothetical argument with which hypothetical people you’re talking about.

bartolomeo,

That’s a good article about the “self-defense” pretext for aggression. Here’s another one:

jadaliyya.com/…/No,-Israel-Does-Not-Have-the-Righ…

naturalgasbad,

Is this the first Israeli conflict you’ve followed? This is just the IDF playbook. Slander, deflect, lie, and deny.

paysrenttobirds,

I guess I’m wondering if this particular ploy works and on who? And maybe the talk back shouldn’t be “you’re lying” but more like “who cares?”

TrainsAreCool,

Nothing can justify genocide.

machinin,

Feels a little like appealing to some patriarchal emotional bs, like they’re hoping we all fly into a blind rage over it.

This is exactly what they are doing, except they aren’t targeting all of us to such a degree. They only need to persuade a small percentage of opponents into inaction on the issue. They only need to persuade a small percentage of neutrals into support.

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Israel is built upon cry bullying. This is definitely working. They even did research into how to maximally demonize Palestinians to justify their own war crimes which is what this post is about .

Israeli propaganda has affected your own world view, even mine. Because we still don’t know how many people were truly killed by Hamas and how many of it was friendly fire.

2023-12-12: Israeli army rules out investigation for friendly fire incidents on 7 October

The Israeli army believes it would not be “morally sound” to investigate incidents of friendly fire that occured on 7 October, the Israeli media outlet Yedioth Ahronot reported on Tuesday.

The army believes that it likely killed its own people following Hamas’s surprise attack, but has decided that “beyond the operational investigations of the events”, further investigations of these would be ruled out.

We know that Hamas did kill at least some non-combatants. The question is how many. And the IDF still actively prevents that question being answered.

paysrenttobirds,

I just don’t think the question matters. How many hostages killed would make Israel’s one state solution and the violence required to establish it either right or even viable?

Omegamanthethird,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

I feel like it’s an attempt to manage or split the demand from the anti-genocide folks. You add rape to the mix, and suddenly a lot less people are arguing for a total ceasefire. Lower demands, soften protests, create dispute. And for some, it really gives a blank check.

It’s not about getting everyone on board. It’s about breaking up the consensus.

paysrenttobirds,

I think you’re right, they are just chipping off one group.

krolden,

Lol clear and present danger. What a line to use.

TrainsAreCool,

It’s been a while since I’ve seen that, but wasn’t it the line used to justify the actions of the main antagonists of the film?

krolden,

Yes

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Reminder that TheGrayzone was one of the first that exposed the fraudulent NYT rape article, which article of written by an ex-IDF soldier without journalistic experience.

More fun leaked slides from the article about the Hasbara language for our politicians and “journalists”:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/c57cc1ff-a7fa-4eef-92a4-94f3cce42959.png

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b5efc9fa-212c-4ded-9ea3-fd58b0675a2a.png

federatingIsTooHard,
@federatingIsTooHard@lemmy.world avatar

if we see people using these phrases do we get to call them bots and shills, or is that reserved for pro war users?

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

If you are anti israel you are a Russian Trump supporter. These phrases are abused all over mainstream media and politics

One of the scariest moments to me was how so many leaders of western countries said that they unconditionally support israel four months ago.

Unconditional. In many different languages. All using a word with that specific meaning.

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