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With its traditional terrorist foe taking a back seat, the Israeli government needed to explain the dangers presented to its state from scratch.

By MICHAEL STARR – The Jerusalem Post
Published: AUGUST 10, 2022 21:28
 

A FOREIGN MINISTRY graphic gives background to Islamic Jihad.
(photo credit: MFA/TWITTER)

After decades of casting Hamas as Israel’s main threat in the south, Israel launched its first operation in Gaza against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

This comes with its own challenges on the public diplomacy front. With its traditional terrorist foe taking a back seat, the Israeli government needed to explain the dangers presented to its state from scratch.

Casual observers are largely familiar with the name Hamas, and have associated with it rocket attacks and suicide bombings. Hamas is widely recognized as a brand-name terrorist organization and few see it in a positive light. The evils of Hamas were in mind with every Israeli operation in Gaza, affording some legitimacy to the IDF’s actions.

Until now, international audiences have been far less familiar with PIJ than they have been with Hamas. PIJ doesn’t control the Gaza Strip and without a litany of crimes, the IDF could be granted less leeway by observers in its military actions when engaging with them.

Based on videos put out by the IDF and Foreign Affairs Ministry, Israel chose to brand PIJ as the illegitimate proxy of a hostile foreign nation, akin to Al Qaeda, separate from Palestinians and as much a danger to them as they are to Israelis.

Palestinian Islamic jihad militants display rockets during a military show marking the 32nd anniversary of the organisation’s founding, in the central Gaza Strip October 3, 2019. (credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS) 

‘Who is the Islamic Jihad in Gaza?’
Four hours prior to the beginning of Operation Breaking Dawn, the ministry released a video explaining PIJ’s background.

“Who is the Islamic Jihad in Gaza?” Asked the video. “A terrorist organization operating under the leadership of Iran,” was the lede.

Graphics published by official Israeli international channels also emphasized the clear connections to Iran.

“They follow an extreme Islamic ideology,” said the August 5, ministry video. “The organization was established as part of a global Jihad phenomenon, which includes Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. The Islamic Jihad in Gaza is a recognized terror organization by the European Union, UK, United States, Japan, Canada and Australia.”

Though it is odd to put Hezbollah and Al Qaeda as part of the same network, the comparison to Al Qaeda seems intentionally salient. On August 2, the US killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a targeted strike, much in the same fashion as Tayseer Jabari was targeted at the outset of the war. Both were presented as leaders of radical Islamic terrorist organizations responsible for the deaths of civilians.

“We just targeted a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza,” announced the IDF on August 5. “Tayseer Jabari was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad
THROUGHOUT THE Israeli content on the war, “Palestinian” was almost never mentioned in relation to Islamic Jihad – even removing it from the group’s name. With some exceptions, it was almost always referred to as “Islamic Jihad in Gaza,” in the same way one might refer to a branch of Islamic State or Al Qaeda.

The terrorist organization is presented as distinct from Palestinians, likely not only to delegitimize them but to develop a narrative that the military operation would not be against Palestinians but an alien body among them.

“Islamic Jihad in Gaza is solely a military organization, not a governmental movement, and has no intention of leading the Palestinians,” said the initial ministry video.

If Palestinians were mentioned in relation to Islamic Jihad, it was only when noting the danger that the organization presented to them.

“Tonight, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired a rocket towards Israel, which fell short inside Gaza, hitting a Palestinian home in the Jabaliya neighborhood and tragically killing at least four children,” said Prime Minister Office International Spokeswoman Keren Hajioff, on Sunday. “Islamic Jihad is killing Palestinian children in Gaza.”

It is likely that there were at least two other rocket misfires that killed Palestinians and it appears that PIJ killed more Gazan civilians than Israel.

As much as Israel worked to brand Islamic Jihad, the terrorist group played directly into Israel’s messaging with its actions like those in Jabaliya, and Israel was quick to seize on their blunders.

The government and military shared multiple graphics and videos of the incident, and emphasized the phenomenon of rocket misfires in the Gaza Strip. Footage of other rocket misfires, such as those missing a Palestinian news team, were shared via the Israel Twitter account.

These videos gained hundreds of thousands of views all together. This operation, the anti-Israel outrage seemed muted.

PIJ’s actions and Israeli branding seem to have successfully branded the group as a danger to Palestinians. It remains to be seen in future conflicts if they were successful in establishing Islamic Jihad as a foe that threatens Israel, as well, and warrants future military action.

The writer is a news desk manager at The Jerusalem Post.

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Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs – Iran Desk
 August 10, 2022 – for article reference – click here

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IGRC) commander, Major General Hossein Salami (left), and PIJ leader Ziad al-Nakhalah in Iran. 

Even before Israel’s Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza was launched, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ziad Nakhalah was in Tehran to meet with top regime officials and military commanders.
The Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), commented1 on August 6, 2022, on the unfolding events. The agency doubted that the clash between Nakhalah’s organization and Israel would become a large-scale war. It said Israel’s military strategy would not permit its government to continue the conflict. Instead, “it is the resistance that should make the most of the current opportunity.”
Nakhalah came to Iran on August 2, the day Israel arrested top Islamic Jihad official Bassam al-Saadi in the Jenin refugee camp. Nakhalah received the news of the arrest of Al-Saadi and his son-in-law, Ashraf Aljada, as he was preparing for his first meeting in Tehran. His host for that meeting was Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, foreign minister in the government of President Ebrahim Raisi.
Nakhalah went to additional meetings before the IDF’s operation in Gaza began. On August 3, he met with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, chair of the Iranian parliament, and Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khamenei.2
On August 6, the Iranian foreign minister called Nakhalah3 to share his condemnation of Israel for launching the operation. Amir-Abdollahian told Nakhalah that Israel’s latest “savage attacks” were aimed at creating a crisis in Gaza to divert attention from Israel’s own “multilayered crises.”
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said4 at the onset of the operation, “Iran strongly condemns the Zionist apartheid regime’s barbaric offensive against Gaza, and it is the legal right of the Palestinian people and the resistance organizations to defend themselves against the Zionist regime’s aggression and acts of terror.”
Kanaani said, “In its savage onslaught,” Israel had “killed resistance commanders and helpless Palestinians, and the fledgling [Lapid] regime, which likes to create adventures and take provocative steps, is responsible for this crime and thus for the consequences of the aggression as well.”
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson added that Tehran was calling on all countries and international organizations “to fulfill their legal, moral, and human responsibility and protect the oppressed Palestinian nation and denounce the Zionist regime’s acts of terror. They must also prevent the continuation of the crimes of this regime, which is the main cause of the instability and insecurity in the region.”
Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, also slammed Israel’s operation. At an Ashura religious ceremony in the northern province of Mazandaran, Qaani spoke at length5 about the tension between Israel and Gaza. He boasted that “at least 15 operations are carried out daily against the Israeli positions,” but he did not elaborate.
The Quds Force commander Qaani, August 6, 2022. (Tasnim News)
Qaani continued: “Palestinians have struck Israel hard, and it is collapsing, and every day we see that the Zionist regime’s confidence level is declining. Palestinian fighters are planning to strike the final blows to this rotten body. As always, Iran will stand beside the oppressed Palestinian fighters. Children who were educated in Islam in the occupied territories, in Gaza, and in Lebanon are faithful to the teaching of the imams and the doctrine of the revolution. The United States and Israel cannot stand against these heroes.”
Qaani added: “The children of Islam in the occupied territories have achieved self-sufficiency and will confront Israel until the victory is complete. The enemies must know that we will never ignore their deeds and crimes against the region’s oppressed people and everywhere else. Indeed, in many cases, the enemy has suffered the response in a very short time, but for each of his steps for which he still has not suffered the response he deserves, we have a plan.”
On August 6, the second day of Operation Breaking Dawn, Nakhalah met separately with President Raisi and IRGC Commander Hossein Salami.
According to the Fars News Agency, also affiliated with the IRGC, Salami told his guest:
The liberation of the Palestinian people is more than just a wish for us; it is a basic strategy. If it were just a heartfelt wish, it would not be defined as an actual objective. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [founder of the Islamic Republic] and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, taught us to see it as a goal and a strategy that will lead to liberating holy Quds [Jerusalem] and to restoring the lost, occupied lands of Palestine to their original owners.6
PIJ leader Ziad al-Nakhalah (left, without a mask) and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. (President. ir)
Salami told Nakhalah, “The course of developments in occupied Palestine and the attrition of the Zionists’ power, which is heading for collapse, are irreversible as we move closer to the goal. The power of the Palestinian resistance has grown compared to the past, and now, taking into account its potential capabilities, we see that the resistance has [also] found the right way to wage large-scale wars.”
The IRGC commander told the Islamic Jihad secretary-general:
Important, zealous, senior Israeli officials such as Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Naftali Bennett have already acknowledged the helplessness and imminent collapse of their regime. International experts also note this and stress that Israel can no longer withstand the undeniable facts on the ground. Israel’s weakness grows as Palestine gains strength. They are weak psychologically and see a black and frightening future, so some prefer to leave. That is, reverse migration. When they collapse from within, there may be no need for a war.
We stand by your side until the end, and Palestine and Palestinians should know that they are not alone. Israel’s latest operation has killed and wounded many, especially innocent children. Undoubtedly, the rapid response to this crime by the Islamic Palestinian resistance shows that a new stage has begun as the resistance intensifies. Israel will pay a heavy price for this crime.
In conclusion, Salami expressed hope for “a quickening of the processes leading to the victory of Palestine.” He added, “The achievement of effective military force alters the balance of terror and constitutes a guarantee for the success of the rebellion and the Islamic resistance of Palestine. Your people also stand by you, and you will be able to gain even more strength and overcome the other side from the human, spiritual, and military standpoints.”

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