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<h3>Israel’s Psych-War Is Relentless, Vicious and Deliberate<img
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<p>One part of Israel’s military operation in Gaza that’s been
largely ignored by the mainstream media is the extremely
sophisticated psychological war that’s being waged on the
Palestinian people. If we look carefully at some of the more
unusual elements in Israel’s strategy, we see the outline of plan
that is clearly aimed at inflicting maximum psychological damage
on its victims.<br>
<br>
Take, for example, Israel’s repeated demand that civilians leave a
particular city at a designated time. Every time this demand has
been made it was followed shortly after by airstrikes on the
fleeing civilians. We could easily dismiss this unfortunate action
as an operational snafu attributable to human error, but that does
not appear to be the case. After all, these airstrikes have not
happened just once or twice, but over and over again. This
suggests that it is official policy.<br>
<br>
The same is true of the seemingly random killing of civilians by
Israeli snipers, (some of them waving white flags) or the
so-called “indiscriminate bombing” of homes, hospitals and refugee
camps, or the hyper-belligerent pronouncements by political
leaders, or the massive slaughter of civilians peacefully
gathering food at humanitarian aid trucks.<br>
<br>
What we’re saying is that none of these things have any apparent
tactical value, rather their efficacy can only be measured in
terms of how they help Israel achieve its overall strategic
objective which is the expulsion of the entire Arab population. In
that regard, the strategy appears to be working quite well because
the majority of the population is now convinced that “nowhere is
safe”. This, in fact, is the cornerstone upon which Israel has
developed its psychological battleplan, to eradicate any sense of
personal security prompting feelings of anxiety, confusion and
hopelessness. Keep in mind, this mindset did not appear out of
thin air. This mindset is the product of a meticulously-plotted
and thoroughly-sinister plan to inflict maximum psychological
damage on 2 million people so they will be easier to expel from
their historic homeland. That is the underlying goal of Israel’s
operation, ethnic cleansing. And the psychological aspect of the
campaign may be more critical to its success than the relentless
airstrikes or nascent ground war. This is from an article at Save
The Children:<br>
<br>
“In times of war, people usually seek refuge in safe places. There
are no safe places in Gaza right now, and there is no way of
reaching safety outside. With a sense of safety, the constant
reassuring presence of family, some kind of a routine and
appropriate treatment, children can recover. But so many children
have already lost family members, some have lost all, and the
violence and displacement are relentless,” Jason Lee, Save the
Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian
territory. Children’s Mental health Pushed Beyond the Breaking
Point, Save The Children<br>
<br>
While Lee recognizes the importance of “safe places”, he fails to
connect the dots. He seems to think the present situation is an
accident of war, but it’s not an accident of war. Israeli leaders
have undoubtedly worked hand-in-glove with groups of behavior
psychologists to settle on a plan that would achieve their
political goals while minimizing casualties. (Mass casualties lead
to fierce political opposition which Israel wanted to avoid.) The
current psyops achieves both which is why we should assume that it
is not ‘accidental’. In short, Israel’s bombing campaign is more
focused on terrorizing and traumatizing than it is on killing. Can
you see that?<br>
<br>
Once we realize that there’s a rational motive for Israel’s
seemingly random violence, we begin to see it everywhere. Every
day there are new airstrikes on tent cities and refugee camps that
have no strategic value at all. Why? Have Israeli leaders lost
their minds?<br>
<br>
No, they haven’t lost their minds. They are deliberately
terrorizing the Palestinians so they will eagerly stampede into
Egypt as soon as the wall is breached. This is the real purpose of
Israel’s psychological war.<br>
<br>
So, what are the consequences of Israel’s psych-war on the
Palestinians?<br>
<br>
Well, if we review the data from the past, we see that Israel’s
frequent incursions have been nothing short of catastrophic. Check
out this excerpt from a report by a group of scholars from the
University of Washington in 2009:<br>
<br>
“A recent report found that 91.4 percent of children in the Gaza
Strip suffer moderate to severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder.”…<br>
<br>
The most recent studies indicate that the vast majority of Gaza’s
children exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)….. Of a representative sample of children in Gaza, more
than 95 percent experienced artillery shelling in their area or
sonic booms of low-flying jets. Moreover, 94 percent recalled
seeing mutilated corpses on TV and 93 percent witnessed the
effects of aerial bombardments on the ground. Vast majority of
Gaza children suffer PTSD symptoms, Electronic Intifada<br>
<br>
Repeat: “91.4 percent of children in the Gaza Strip” already have
“moderate to severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.”<br>
<br>
So, even back in 2009, Palestinians were experiencing a
“staggering level of psychological trauma.” Imagine how many more
people will be severely impacted by today’s bloody rampage. It’s
worth noting, that the psychological damage from the current
conflict will not vanish when the hostilities end. Many of these
people will spend the rest of their lives wrestling with their own
demons in a hell that is entirely of Israel’s making. Here’s more
from a 4-month-old article at the Guardian:<br>
<br>
Children in Gaza are developing severe trauma symptoms alongside
the risk of death and injury, according to a Palestinian
psychiatrist….<br>
<br>
The psychological impact of the war on children was showing, said
Fadel Abu Heen, a psychiatrist in Gaza. Children had “started to
develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting,
fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their
parents’ sides.”<br>
<br>
The “lack of any safe place has created a general sense of fear
and horror among the entire population and children are most
impacted,” he said….<br>
<br>
Studies conducted after earlier conflicts have shown a majority of
children in Gaza exhibiting symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).<br>
<br>
Among Unicef’s other findings were: 91% of children reported
sleeping disturbances during the conflict; 94% said they slept
with their parents; 85% reported appetite changes; 82% felt angry;
97% felt insecure; 38% felt guilty; 47% were biting their nails;
76% reported itching or feeling ill….<br>
<br>
A report last year by Save the Children on the impact of 15 years
of blockade and repeated conflicts on the mental health of
children in Gaza found their psycho-social wellbeing had “declined
dramatically to alarming levels”.<br>
<br>
Children that the aid agency interviewed “spoke of fear,
nervousness, anxiety, stress and anger, and listed family
problems, violence, death, nightmares, poverty, war and the
occupation, including the blockade, as the things they liked least
in their lives”.<br>
<br>
The report quoted António Guterres, the secretary general of the
UN, describing the lives of children in Gaza as “hell on earth”.
Children in Gaza ‘developing severe trauma’ after 16 days of
bombing, The Guardian<br>
<br>
We tend to think of the survivors (of war) as the “lucky ones”,
but that is not always the case. When you strip a child of all
sense of personal security and cast him into a world of
uncertainty, violence and death, his ability to feel joy or love
or self-fulfillment are greatly impaired. We think Israeli war
planners deliberately created the conditions required for
inflicting maximum psychological damage on the Palestinians living
in Gaza. We don’t think there is anything ‘accidental’ about what
we are seeing. We think this is the only rational explanation for
an erratic battle plan that focuses less on beating the enemy than
it does on terrorizing the population. For Israel, driving the
Palestinians out of Gaza is simply not enough. They want to ensure
that their victims face years of agonizing psychological pain
until the day they die.<br>
<br>
While we do not yet have sufficient data to accurately assess the
magnitude of the damage, we can safely say that the ongoing
massacre vastly exceeds any in the past. For all practical
purposes, Israel has destroyed the lives of every man, woman and
child in Gaza. But when we see video of the wasteland Israel has
created – with the rubble extending in all directions– we should
remember that the psychological damage they have inflicted is far
greater. These are the invisible wounds that will never heal and
will thrust an entire population into a world of chronic anxiety,
depression and despair.<br>
<br>
Israel alone is responsible for their suffering.<br>
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