The inside story of the Israel-Hamas information war

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By Philip Elliott Washington Correspondent, TIME Inside the Israel-Hamas Information War The D.C. Brief will be back with fresh reporting in the new year. In the meantime, here's a look at some of the latest reporting from TIME, including the latest investigation from Eric Cortellessa and Vera Bergengruen. O ne of the most important people in Israel right now is a 22-year-old military press officer. In recent weeks, Masha Michelson has become the face of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on social media. With no combat training, Michelson has been trailing Israeli troops in Gaza to document the war from their point of view. On Nov. 19, Michelson, garbed in green military fatigues and a flak jacket, filmed a night-vision tour of the tunnel shafts under Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City—evidence, she said, of a subterranean terrorist command center where they had found a cache of weapons—and posted it through the IDF's accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and X, platforms where young audiences are increasingly turning against Israel’s war to destroy Hamas. “When you need to address the world,” Michelson tells TIME, “they're more likely to listen to someone who looks like them.” Getting the world to listen is one thing; convincing people is another. Four days before Michelson’s tunnel tour, Israel had concluded a days-long siege of Al-Shifa. The raid forced thousands of sick and injured patients and the doctors and nurses caring for them to evacuate the facility, reportedly resulting in the death of at least six premature babies. To Israel's critics, it was the latest example of the cost in innocent lives of its offensive. Interviews with dozens of current and former Israeli and U.S. officials reveal a recognition of the accelerating loss of global public support, and a scramble by the nation’s leaders in response. Behind the social media messaging of spokespeople like Michelson lies a rapidly growing operation to convince the world that Israel is fighting for nothing less than its own survival and is doing what it can to avoid civilian casualties. If Israel wins the military battle but loses the war for worldwide public opinion, it could threaten the durability of American support, damage Israel’s ability to forge and maintain peace with its Arab neighbors, shape the perception of the Jewish state for the next generation, and put the safety and security of the Jewish diaspora at risk. “The stakes of the information war,” says Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, “are the stakes of the war itself.” Read the Story » Share This Story

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