Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20210515

A29
world news Diasabra 15 Mei 2021

Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas

(AP) — Just after midnight Fri- "What we saw tonight was a very so- relationship between the IDF and the similarly inclined.
day, the Israeli military put out an phisticated operation that had a me- foreign media.
ominous statement to the media: dia aspect to it," Heller said. Lerner said he felt it was unlikely the
"IDF air and ground troops are Peter Lerner, a former military military intentionally lied, but dam-
currently attacking in the Gaza Hamas has not commented on the spokesman to the foreign media, said age was done regardless.
Strip." incident, and it was impossible to the Israeli public in general has long
confirm the Israeli reports. felt the international media focus too "Your currency is credibility," he said.
The terse statement set off frenzied heavily on the Palestinian side of the "I think this is a crisis of that credibil-
speculation that Israel had launched Heller said veteran Israeli correspon- story while minimizing Israeli con- ity in the way it's being portrayed."
a ground invasion of Gaza -- a much- dents, who have close ties to the mili- cerns and suffering -- and the army is
feared scenario that would mark a tary and in many cases have served
bloody escalation of this week's oper- themselves, knew that there was no
ation against Hamas militants. Some way Israel was sending troops across
reporters were even told outright the enemy lines at this stage. Heller and
incursion had begun. other military correspondents even
put out statements on Twitter assur-
Hours later, the military issued a ing the jittery public that there was no
"clarification." There were no troops ground operation.
inside Gaza. But by then, several ma-
jor news outlets had erroneously re- The Associated Press, based on its
ported the ground offensive was un- analysis of the army's statement,
der way. phone calls to military officials and
on the ground reporting in Gaza,
While the army attempted to play concluded there was no ground in-
down the incident as a misunder- cursion and did not report there was
standing, well-placed Israeli military one.
commentators said the media had
been used as part of an elaborate ruse But others said the military had mis-
to lure Hamas militants into a deadly led them or even lied when asked to
trap that may have killed dozens of clarify, turning the foreign media into
fighters. an accessory of sorts.

"They didn't lie," said Or Heller, a Felicia Schwartz, correspondent for
veteran military correspondent on The Wall Street Journal, said she
Israel's Channel 13 TV. "It was a ma- alerted news of a ground offensive
nipulation. It was smart and it was after receiving explicit confirmation
successful." from Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a
military spokesman.
This is how it unfolded:
In a statement posted on Twitter,
Late Thursday, after days of airstrikes, she said Conricus "told me directly,
Israel announced it was calling up `There are ground troops in Gaza.'
thousands of reservists and amassing That was the basis for a first story
troops along the border ahead of a saying so. He retracted that statement
possible ground invasion. In another two hours later and I changed the sto-
sign of escalation, Israeli tanks sta- ry to reflect that, and that is noted in
tioned along the border opened fire the text and will be corrected."
at targets inside Gaza.
Speaking to reporters on Friday
In previous rounds of fighting, morning, Conricus blamed an "inter-
ground incursions have resulted in nal miscommunication."
widespread destruction in Gaza and
heavy casualties on both sides. "These things can sometimes happen
in the midst of a complex operation
That set the stage for the late-night with many moving parts and with an
deception. According to Heller, Israel unclear picture of what was happen-
began scrambling forces along the ing," he said. "As soon as I understood
border in what appeared to be final that I had the wrong information, I
preparations for an invasion. Then updated the relevant people with a
came the announcement to the me- clarification."
dia, issued simultaneously in Hebrew
and Arabic on Twitter. There fol- Militaries around the world have
lowed alerts in major outlets that the long used deception and trickery
invasion was under way. against their enemies. Two years ago,
the Israeli military reportedly faked
The Israeli moves sent Hamas fight- the injuries of soldiers at the scene
ers rushing into defensive positions of a Hezbollah missile strike, going so
in an underground network of tun- far as to evacuate them to a hospital in
nels known as the Metro, according a helicopter.
to Heller and other Israeli reports.
According to reports at the time, the
Israel called in 160 warplanes and army staged the injuries to trick He-
bombarded the tunnels for 40 min- zbollah into thinking it had inflicted
utes, the military said. Heller said it casualties and therefore would agree
was his understanding that scores of to a cease-fire.
militants had been killed, though he
said it was impossible to say. Friday's misleading statement further
strained what has often been a rocky