Hashtag Islam by Bunt Gary R.;

Author:Bunt, Gary R.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2018-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

E-JIHAD: OTHER CONFLICT ZONES

Prior to a discussion on IS, it is useful to survey the application of the internet within other conflict zones associated with jihad, not all affiliated with al-Qaeda, and to determine how these applications have informed e-jihad developments.

E-Jihad Palestine

Hamas has had a long-standing and developed approach to the ways in which the internet could be utilized to promote its concept of jihad. It could distribute its approach regarding religious concepts and values to regional and global audiences, especially in the Gaza Strip and Palestine. In the 1990s, Hamas was using discussion lists and early internet sites to provide listings of operations, details of “martyrdom operations,” and logistical information. Within contemporary contexts, the application of social media has been particularly significant. Despite requests from the Israeli state in 2011 requesting Hamas’s removal from Facebook, it utilized social media in order to promote its perspective.90 In 2014, it introduced #AskHamas on Twitter as an invitation to ask questions. However, the campaign was unsuccessful in that it was “trolled” by sarcastic questions (although it did go viral).91 Hamas developed material for diverse audiences online, including children, through the website Al-Fateh.92

Other Palestinian platforms have been proactive, with varying degrees of religious content in their output. Some of this has been innovative in scope. The release in 2010 of animation by the Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigade titled “The Sentiment in the Zionist Society Regarding Schalit” was based around the intended fate of then-kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit. The animation, showing Schalit’s father walking through empty streets, was part of a campaign of psychological warfare that indicated what would happen if the brigade’s demands were not met.93

Social media became a significant element in the campaigning on all sides, with Israel Defense Forces banned from taking mobile phones into Gaza for fear of the leak of strategic or other data.94 Attacks could be in the form of hacking as much as physical attacks, although sometimes (as with attacks in the analog world) these could be misplaced too. Pro-Palestinian hackers issued a retraction when they hacked the website of the newspaper Haaretz in 2012, stating that they did not know it was a “good newspaper.”95 This did not prevent hacking elsewhere, although this was not necessarily synonymous with specific religious hacktivism. In 2012, the Anonymous collective hacked Israeli governmental websites protesting attacks on Gaza.96

Israeli security agencies have also used the internet as an information-gathering tool.97 Representatives from Israel and Palestine have used social media to attack each other, but there have also been initiatives aimed at more constructive dialogue.98 In sustained Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2014, people in Gaza tweeted in real time, showing the impact of bombing on civilians. This became a primary source for broadcasters, who did not have reporters embedded on-site.99

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