wat0n wrote:I'm pretty sure that if there were videos of any major damage, they'd already be available... Just like on October 7.
There's less of it because the damage is occurring in secure areas (military bases), but it's still out there - I imagine that
an IDF conscript recorded this without permission and leaked it to a few friends just to show what was going on, and it unfortunately made its way to the internet.
Israel allowed all manner of October 7th to be widely publicized because it was their 9/11 - it was what justified the massive war in Gaza and now southern Lebanon.
But teven then, the footage of attacks on kibbutzim was more widely circulated, and everywhere was the stupid photograph of Noa Argamani on the back of a motorcycle.
Argamani's social media presence has changed a lot, with her moving from fairly normal person's IG to
one that is full of glamor shots meant to launch some career in perhaps modeling or music or just simply being a social media influencer.
This is remarkable because her brand has been being used by Israel a lot since being freed, including the promotion of artistic stylizations of her:
This is inspired by the famous video of her at a rave dancing on the shoulders of someone with her father who is across from her, and being allowed to drop a track after giving a small speech - notably, Argamani is a Goa (psychedelic trance) fan, which is pretty awesome since it's more hardcore than most EDM and quite obscure, and also something that is a specialty of Eretz Israel.
This video, however, was not widely circulated in the media because it really did not sit right with many people. She is very scantily clad (it's a thong bikini), and many point out that her boyfriend is still in captivity while she is dressed like that and out at a rave. Similarly, her father's words about Israel as the "most humane army in the world" weren't soemthing that were echoed endlessly in Western media.
But it is the case that the Israelis are trying to get the most out of her -
they sent her to a G7 meeting in Japan to talk with diplomats.Israel is an interesting nation because they have insane success in public image management while also try lots of angles that fall completely flat or even rub Westerners the wrong way, but these things are rarely capitalized off of to criticize her.
Unfortunately, given the immense power of pro-israel elements in the US it's more the other way around. The largesse given Israel is less an indication of US power over them than their power over us, or our politicians.
- By Truth To Power
- By litwin