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Mint
4 minutes ago
- Politics
- Mint
Israelis Begin to Question the Morality of Their War in Gaza
The news on Israel's main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: 'Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that this isn't a public relations failure, but a moral one.' Whether or not it was a Walter Cronkite moment, when the US broadcaster declared on live TV in 1968 that the Vietnam War was unwinnable — a turning point in public opinion — it seemed significant in a country that's been steadfast in its defense of the war against Hamas in Gaza for 22 months. There are other indications — from WhatsApp group chats to new reports by Israeli human rights organizations — that the mood is shifting away from a robust embrace of the conflict. Some commentators are announcing a change of heart about the war, triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. The subsequent Israeli offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins. The United Nations World Food Program has warned for weeks that Gaza's population of more than 2 million people faces crisis levels of food insecurity, with scores of aid groups reporting widespread starvation. 'After the massacre, it was imperative to strike at Hamas with all our might, even at the cost of civilian casualties,' wrote Nahum Barnea, a columnist for centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. But 'the damage — in military casualties, Israel's international standing and civilian casualties — is growing worse. Hamas is to blame, but Israel is responsible.' Sherwin Pomerantz, who runs an economic consulting group, wrote in the conservative Jerusalem Post: 'What was a just war two years ago is now an unjust war and must be ended.' The shift in Israeli sentiment is reflected in a pile-up of bad news: Hamas still holds hostages in Gaza and remains a military force, soldiers continue to die, Israelis abroad are shunned, even attacked, and now scenes of starving children are shown across global media. US President Donald Trump, a fervent defender of Israel, even weighed in, saying this week he didn't agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion there is no starvation in Gaza. 'That's real starvation stuff, I see it, and you can't fake that,' Trump said in Scotland on Monday. There haven't been any recent polls published in Israel related to the war. One in May showed 65% of Israelis unconcerned about humanitarian conditions in Gaza. But until this past week, little of the destruction and death there appeared in Israeli media. Now the issue of hunger dominates news coverage. Other shifts in public discourse are noticeable. Human rights lawyers abroad have been accusing Israel of war crimes and genocidal intent in Gaza since just after the war started — charges the vast majority of Israelis have rejected. For the first time, two Israeli human rights groups are now using the term genocide for what's happening — B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Also on Monday, the presidents of five Israeli universities wrote an open letter to Netanyahu urging him to 'intensify efforts to address the severe hunger crisis currently afflicting the Gaza Strip.' 'Like many Israelis, we are horrified by the scenes from Gaza, including infants dying every day from hunger and disease,' they wrote. 'As a people who endured the horrors of the Holocaust, we also bear a responsibility to use every means at our disposal to prevent cruel and indiscriminate harm to innocent men, women and children.' Yair Lapid, head of Israel's main opposition party, gave a fiery speech this week describing the war as a disaster and a failure and calling on Netanyahu to end it and eliminate Hamas through cooperation with regional powers. After ceasefire talks stalled again last week, a new effort is under way to revive negotiations with Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and others. There's growing commentary in mainstream media declaring Hamas defeated, making an end to the war easier to accept. There's also pushback to the starvation narrative. Israeli military authorities said, without additional evidence, that one photo of a skeletal boy published on front pages around the world was a child with a genetic disease that makes his bones protrude, and that he'd been evacuated from Gaza more than a month ago. In addition, the military has distributed photos purported to be of Hamas operatives surrounded by food and looking healthy. And, so far, Netanyahu has shown no sign of shifting policy. 'We are fighting a just war, a moral war, a war for our survival,' he said in a statement on Monday. 'No country in the world would allow the continued rule in a neighboring territory of a terror group bent on its destruction that already stormed across its borders in a genocidal attack.' 'We'll continue to act responsibly, as we always have, and we'll continue to seek the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,' he said. 'That is the only way to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.' With assistance from Gina Turner. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Israelis begin to question the morality of their war in Gaza
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Now the issue of hunger in Gaza dominates news coverage in Israel. JERUSALEM – The news on Israel's main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: 'Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that this isn't a public relations failure, but a moral one.' Whether or not it was a Walter Cronkite moment, when the US broadcaster declared on live TV in 1968 that the Vietnam War was unwinnable – a turning point in public opinion – it seemed significant in a country that's been steadfast in its defence of the war against Hamas in Gaza for 22 months. There are other indications – from WhatsApp group chats to new reports by Israeli human rights organisations – that the mood is shifting away from a robust embrace of the conflict. Some commentators are announcing a change of heart about the war, triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. The subsequent Israeli offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins. The United Nations World Food Programme has warned for weeks that Gaza's population of more than 2 million people faces crisis levels of food insecurity, with scores of aid groups reporting widespread starvation. 'After the massacre, it was imperative to strike at Hamas with all our might, even at the cost of civilian casualties,' wrote Mr Nahum Barnea, a columnist for centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong Singapore 7, including child and firefighter, taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Singapore ICA inspector obtained bribes in the form of sex acts from 6 foreign men in exchange for his help Singapore Doctor who forged certificates for aesthetic procedures gets 4 months' jail Singapore 12 motorists nabbed for providing illegal private-hire services: LTA Life Alone but not lonely: Tips from seniors who live solo and like it But 'the damage – in military casualties, Israel's international standing and civilian casualties – is growing worse. Hamas is to blame, but Israel is responsible'. Mr Sherwin Pomerantz, who runs an economic consulting group, wrote in the conservative Jerusalem Post: 'What was a just war two years ago is now an unjust war and must be ended.' The shift in Israeli sentiment is reflected in a pile-up of bad news: Hamas still holds hostages in Gaza and remains a military force, soldiers continue to die, Israelis abroad are shunned, even attacked, and now scenes of starving children are shown across global media. US President Donald Trump, a fervent defender of Israel, even weighed in, saying this week he didn't agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion there is no starvation in Gaza. 'That's real starvation stuff, I see it, and you can't fake that,' Mr Trump said in Scotland on July 28. There haven't been any recent polls published in Israel related to the war. One in May showed 65 per cent of Israelis unconcerned about humanitarian conditions in Gaza. But until this past week, little of the destruction and death there appeared in Israeli media. Now the issue of hunger dominates news coverage. Other shifts in public discourse are noticeable. Human rights lawyers abroad have been accusing Israel of war crimes and genocidal intent in Gaza since just after the war started – charges the vast majority of Israelis have rejected. For the first time, two Israeli human rights groups are now using the term genocide for what's happening – B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Also on July 28, the presidents of five Israeli universities wrote an open letter to Mr Netanyahu urging him to 'intensify efforts to address the severe hunger crisis currently afflicting the Gaza Strip.' 'Like many Israelis, we are horrified by the scenes from Gaza, including infants dying every day from hunger and disease,' they wrote. 'As a people who endured the horrors of the Holocaust, we also bear a responsibility to use every means at our disposal to prevent cruel and indiscriminate harm to innocent men, women and children.' Mr Yair Lapid, head of Israel's main opposition party, gave a fiery speech this week describing the war as a disaster and a failure and calling on Mr Netanyahu to end it and eliminate Hamas through cooperation with regional powers. After ceasefire talks stalled again last week, a new effort is under way to revive negotiations with Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and others. There's growing commentary in mainstream media declaring Hamas defeated, making an end to the war easier to accept. There's also pushback to the starvation narrative. The Israeli military authorities said, without additional evidence, that one photo of a skeletal boy published on front pages around the world was a child with a genetic disease that makes his bones protrude, and that he'd been evacuated from Gaza more than a month ago. In addition, the military has distributed photos purported to be of Hamas operatives surrounded by food and looking healthy. And, so far, Mr Netanyahu has shown no sign of shifting policy. 'We are fighting a just war, a moral war, a war for our survival,' he said in a statement on July 28. 'No country in the world would allow the continued rule in a neighbouring territory of a terror group bent on its destruction that already stormed across its borders in a genocidal attack.' 'We'll continue to act responsibly, as we always have, and we'll continue to seek the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,' he said. 'That is the only way to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.' BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Israelis Begin to Question the Morality of Their War in Gaza
The news on Israel's main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: 'Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that this isn't a public relations failure, but a moral one.' Whether or not it was a Walter Cronkite moment, when the US broadcaster declared on live TV in 1968 that the Vietnam War was unwinnable — a turning point in public opinion — it seemed significant in a country that's been steadfast in its defense of the war against Hamas in Gaza for 22 months.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
DailyMail+ Power List reveals America's favorite news anchor: So who really deserves the multi-million dollar paycheck?
For decades, America's most trusted figures were the men and women delivering the nightly news. Millions tuned in religiously to giants of broadcast like Walter Cronkite, Diane Sawyer, and Edward R. Murrow. They were the kings and queens of the anchor desk – steady voices guiding the nation through its biggest crises. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes.
Bangkok Post
18-07-2025
- General
- Bangkok Post
More missiles, memes, and the new resistance
There was a time, not so long ago, when Walter Cronkite's sombre baritone could turn battlefield dispatches into moments of collective reckoning. Even the first "television war" of 1991, piped in grainy bursts from Baghdad, felt slow enough for shock to sink in. These days, the missiles that streak above Natanz or Esfahan arrive on TikTok between latte art tutorials and kittens sliding off sofas. The effect is less shock-and-awe, more scroll-and-shrug. Last month's US strikes on Iran's nuclear bunkers should have rattled nerves. Instead, much of Gen Z greeted the spectacle with an arched eyebrow and a sardonic playlist. One clip looped "Another One Bites the Dust" over orange fireballs; another labelled the bombardment "Just another Tuesday" before pivoting to a dance challenge. Outrage, it seems, has gone the way of MySpace. Call it apathy if you like -- I'd call it adaptation. This generation has been weaned on crisis: melting ice caps, school lockdown drills, pandemic graphs, brittle democracies. Catastrophe is no longer an interruption; it is the operating system. So when Washington crossed a carefully drawn red line in Iran, young viewers simply filed the incident alongside all the other background errors in the global code. Older eyes see dangerous detachment. Algorithms deliver bite-sized adrenaline jolts until empathy wears thin, like a favourite song replayed to death. Psychologists dub it "compassion fatigue". I prefer "algorithmic anaesthesia". Once, war arrived wrapped in solemn headlines; now it comes as jump-cut carnage set to distorted pop. Memes replace manifestos. Irony becomes armour. And if that feels like cheapening tragedy, we might ask who devalued it first. Two decades of "surgical strikes" and euphemisms -- collateral damage, regime change -- have taught the young the true market price of outrage, and it's been heavily discounted. That armour can grow into apathy. But writing off TikTok cynicism as nihilism overlooks its rational core. This cohort grew up watching leaders tweet condolence emojis at dawn and forget them by dusk. They saw hashtags blaze, then fade before any law could change. For them, politics is churn: ritual sorrow followed by bipartisan amnesia. If millennials flirted with ironic distance, Gen Z has said its vows. Placards become punch lines; rage becomes reaction videos. What emerges is a minimalist ethic: survive, stay sane, meme through the mayhem. Yet the story doesn't end there. Behind the screen, young people patch together decentralised lifelines -- raising bail on Twitch and routing donations faster than governments draft statements. They may skip street marches, but their silent networks can do more in an hour than a million retweets. Perhaps, though, the mask of indifference hides a new emotional literacy -- a refusal to perform outrage on cue for institutions that have squandered trust. Their muted feed is a verdict: fix the system first, then we'll talk. Detachment becomes a tactic. In an age when dissent is data-mined and sold back as targeted ads, withholding emotion is a small act of sabotage. Staying unreadable, even flippant, may be the last form of resistance that big tech cannot monetise. And there is tenderness, too. Absurd memes in private chats morph into coping hymns; crowdfunding links outpace disaster diplomacy; gallows jokes cushion fragile psyches while redistributing small but vital resources. These micro-gestures, mostly invisible to legacy media, redraw the map of activism. So, what do we older scribes advise? Chant louder? Feel harder? They tried that. The burden now rests with those in charge. If America's foreign policy insists on spectacle, it must also reckon with the quiet revolution growing in its shadow -- a generation that has stopped listening and started building elsewhere. Offer something tangible -- climate action, student-debt relief, gun-safety laws -- and watch sarcasm melt into attention. Until then, ballistic arcs will glide past on a timeline sound-tracked by sardonic remixes. It is fashionable to scold the young for laughing at the apocalypse, yet gallows humour has long been history's pressure valve. Wilfred Owen once wrote of "a comedy of manners in hell". Today's TikTok jokes carry the same DNA -- lifeboats of wit in a sea of fire. Missiles may fall faster than a feed can refresh, but somewhere between punchlines, a pulse still beats. If that rhythm turns into action, it could rattle the corridors of power more than any viral video -- but only if those in power are willing to listen before the scroll moves on, indefinitely. Imran Khalid is a columnist on international affairs based in Karachi, Pakistan. He has been a regular contributor to publications such as 'Newsweek', 'The Hill', 'Nikkei Asia', 'The South China Morning Post' and Foreign Policy in Focus.
