• Hamas Isn’t the First Military Group to Hide Behind Civilians as a Way to Wage War

    Using places and things civilians need, like hospitals, as a means to fight a war is considered a weapon of the weak. It is a way to use another side’s values against it. I think it is clear that Hamas has – in this war and historically – tried to embed themselves and weapons in places civilians live or visit, in order to make it more difficult for the Israelis to target them. But using civilians to further a military advantage is not a new phenomenon.

  • Terrorism Rather Than Pandemics More Concerning for Those with Authoritarian Views, Analysis Shows

    People with authoritarian political views are more likely to be concerned about terrorism and border control than a future new health pandemic, new research shows.

  • Responsible Reporting: Citing the Gaza Health Ministry

    Hamas, the terrorist organization, which has provided misleading or false information to reporters, distorts information about the casualties in Gaza. Hamas controls the Gaza Health Ministry, which is the predominant source of information on casualties in Gaza. While some media outlets have recently begun to identify the Gaza Health Ministry as a Hamas-controlled entity, many do not, which constitutes an omission of a source’s clear bias.

  • New survey: 70% of Americans Agree Jew-Hatred Is a Serious and Growing Problem in the U.S.

    In the month following Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by 316 percent compared to the same time period last year. At the same time, Americans are growing increasingly concerned about antisemitism, with more than 70 percent agreeing in a new survey that Jew-hatred is a serious problem.

  • Worrying Trends Highlight Need for Vigilance Against Homegrown Terrorism

    Despite intense efforts to counter violent extremism over the past two decades, the threat of domestic terrorism still endangers Australians. The focus has shifted from primarily transnational jihadists to violent homegrown ideologues with a range of motivations. As violent extremism evolves, Australia must adapt its strategy to confront this persistent challenge and protect social cohesion and national security.

  • Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and the Israel-Hamas War

    Promoters of conspiracy theories and hate are using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to create misleading content about the Israel-Hamas war. This not only amplifies confusion and hate on social media; it can also cause some to doubt the validity of actual war images, creating unnecessary suspicion at a time of deeply polarized public opinion.

  • Fact Check: AI Fakes in Israel's War Against Hamas

    Real or fake? Images generated by artificial intelligence have become a disinformation tool in the war between Israel and Hamas. DW’s fact-checking team shows you how to spot them.

  • What Jan. 6 Revealed About QAnon and Militias

    Beginning 3-4 years ago, the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters — the three extremist anti-government militia groups playing a prominent role in the 6 January attack on the Capitol — have adjusted their ideological perspective to find a rallying point around QAnon conspiracy theories. “Throughout 2020, as members of extremist groups coalesced in what researchers have termed a ‘militia-sphere,’ their messaging latched on to QAnon conspiracy theories.”

  • Civilian Deaths and Proportionality in the Israel–Hamas War

    Hamas invites civilian casualties by its positioning of military assets, and now that it knows that Israel’s risk tolerance is well beyond anything it has seen before, it likely sees outcries over more civilian casualties leading to a ceasefire as its only chance of survival. And Washington hopes that Israel can inflict grievous damage on Hamas before the White House will have to acquiesce to public opinion and back some kind of ceasefire. Israel, Hamas and Washington are all accepting of civilian casualties in Gaza—they only differ in how many and why.

  • The Hamas Networks in America: A Short History

    Individuals and networks providing various forms of support for Hamas have been active in America for decades. Internal Hamas documents and FBI wiretaps show the existence of a nationwide Hamas network engaged in fundraising, lobbying, education, and propaganda dissemination dating back to the 1980s.

  • “Backlash Effect”: Why the Middle East Conflict Triggers Hate Crimes in the U.S.

    In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, a wave of antisemitism and Islamophobia has swept across the United States, putting American Jewish and Muslim communities on edge. There has been a staggering 312 cases of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault during the first two weeks of the war, a nearly five-fold increase from the same period last year.

  • Al-Aqsa Storm Heralds the Rise of Non-state Special Operations

    The surprise, brutal 7 October attack by Hamas has sent shockwaves around the world. Israel’s surprise was deeper than a combined intelligence and operational surprise. Leo Blanken, Ian Rice, and Craig Whiteside write that “It was failure of imagination.” What Israel missed “is the growing democratization of technology, which is rapidly providing new and dangerous capabilities to non-state actors.”

  • What the Israel Defense Forces Can Expect When It Enters the ‘Gaza Metro’ Tunnel System

    Israel’s military commanders will know that this is unlikely to be a simple operation. Among the factors complicating their mission of eliminating Hamas is the “Gaza Metro”, a vast network of interconnected tunnels within the region. Having invested heavily in subterranean infrastructure over the years, Hamas is counting on this network to aid its survival in the coming weeks. These tunnels are defended, booby-trapped and likely to be populated with human shields and hostages as well as fighters, they will be challenging for even a well-equipped and capable attacking force.

  • Israel: Beyond Deterrence

    The logic of nuclear deterrence does not apply to deterring organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. It is this different type of deterrence that failed on 7 October 2023 and which may now never be restored. Israel now has been forced to look beyond deterrence. It has now concluded that it is dealing with an entity that has never truly been deterred and can’t be deterred in the future. This is where the other flaw in Israel’s past deterrence strategy becomes painfully evident. It has not been accompanied by a more positive political strategy.

  • How to Deal with Visual Misinformation Circulating in the Israel-Hamas War and Other Conflicts

    In the three weeks since war began between Israel and Hamas, social media has been taken over with images and stories of attacks, many of which proved false. I have, of late, been studying the ethics of viewing photos and videos of war and atrocities in situations where falsification of imagery is widespread. A principal lesson of this research is that users of social media have significant power to influence the content they receive and thus bear some responsibility when they consume and share false information.