Retired Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Newsmax on Monday that Israel is losing the propaganda war against Iranian-backed Hamas, which has appeared to gain sympathy among the international media since its terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
"Sadly, I have to agree. We are not winning the battle of the narratives," Conricus said during a special edition of "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" from Jerusalem. "I don't think that we're fighting seriously enough, and I regret the fact that we're not allocating the resources and that we're not applying the same level of creativity and investment into fighting this battle as well. Because sadly, our enemies are good at it and they're getting a lot of free support by international media.
Conricus, a former spokesman for Israel Defense Forces, said Al Jazeera, a media outlet banned in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, is "perhaps the biggest and most important terror outlet mouthpiece that there is in the world."
"Al Jazeera is outlawed in most Arab countries in the Middle East because they, unlike people in the West, understand how very dangerous and toxic Al Jazeera is because they promote instability and terrorism, and they seek to bring about a change of regime in every Arab country until they reach a situation where it's Muslim law, Sharia, that governs everything," Conricus said. "And that's what Al Jazeera does. And Hamas is a useful vehicle for them."
Conricus noted the outrage by international media over the death of Anas Al-Sharif, reportedly a member of Hamas who worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera, on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike.
"I saw a video of a prominent CNN journalist, Clarissa Ward, walking down and shedding crocodile tears about this Hamas terrorist who was also freelancing for Al Jazeera," Conricus said, referring to Al-Sharif. "And she didn't mention Hamas even once. And I think that is, you know, such a professional travesty to be speaking about journalists and their protection, which, by the way, I am all for journalists on the battlefield everywhere should be protected.
"But someone who doubles as a journalist and Israeli Hamas operative has zero protection."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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