Israeli Goliath Thrashed in ‘Cognitive War’ With Hamas, Leading Tel Aviv Think Tank Admits

The shaky truce between the Israeli Army and Hamas militants in Gaza was extended for two days on Tuesday. The ceasefire deal, secured after weeks of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt, followed over a month-and-a-half of fighting, which cost over 16,000 Palestinians and 1,300+ Israelis their lives.

Hamas “has once again succeeded in mocking Israel, racking its nerves, and reaping gains in the cognitive realm,” winning “another battle in the ongoing cognitive campaign,” a leading Israeli security think tank has concluded.

In an unsigned editorial published this week, the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) complained that “Hamas’ superiority in the cognitive war and its ability to leverage situations from a position of weakness and defeat allow it to delay the inevitable and consolidate its expanding support among the Palestinian public.”

Pointing to the terms of the ceasefire deal, which included a hostage-prisoner exchange agreement, the INSS accused Hamas of “cruelly and sarcastically” violating a commitment not to separate hostage family members, and halting the release of a second group of captives, while accusing Israel of violating the deal’s terms by halting humanitarian aid to northern areas of Gaza, and flying drones over the Strip’s southern airspace.

“Hamas, which is in dire straits that threaten its military and governmental capabilities – and consequently faces an existential threat – has succeeded, from the depths of its plight, in manipulating an entire country,” the INSS complained, observing that Israeli officials “stuttered and hesitated,” and that only the Egyptian government, as a guarantor of the ceasefire deal, managed to “force” Hamas to release the second group of hostages.

“The release of the Palestinian terrorists* was greeted with jubilation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, adorned with Hamas symbols. Their release was interpreted as yet another Hamas victory and achievement. Their release deepens Hamas’ grip on the West Bank and public support for the organization, in part at the expense of and the weakening of the Palestinian Authority,” the institute said.

Ultimately, the INSS suggested, the ceasefire agreement granted Hamas another victory in the “ongoing cognitive campaign” against Israel, sending “an important signal to its people and supporters regarding its steadfastness and adherence to the continuation of the struggle.”

Tel Aviv, the think tank said, “continues to showcase its weakness in the cognitive campaign and the war against Hamas,” and factually allowing an “unfathomable” situation in which Hamas is allowed to “set the terms, decide where they have been violated, and act as if in a position of power. Israel must be much more significant in setting the terms and unequivocal and determined in its response to such violations by Hamas, or else the price tag will be even greater,” the INSS summed up.

The institute’s admission matches a slew of statements by Israel’s adversaries, first and foremost Iran, whose leaders have proclaimed over the past week that the pause in Israeli military operations in Gaza was a signal of Israeli “weakness” and of Tel Aviv’s “defeat” at Hamas’ hands.

This rhetoric has also been matched by Washington neocons, with Bush-era Iraq War co-architect and fired former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton saying last week that the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement was a “bad deal” for Israel, and accusing Hamas of trying to “break the morale” and resolve of the Israeli military by continuing the truce. “If this sets a precedent that undermines Israeli resolve to achieve what they’re legitimately entitled to achieve – the elimination of Hamas as a threat – it’ll be a huge victory for the terrorists,” Bolton said, referring to the Palestinian political movement and militant group.

It remains uncertain whether the shaky ceasefire will be extended beyond Thursday, with the Israeli government and military threatening to resume the campaign to “eliminate Hamas and ensure that there is no longer any threat to the State of Israel from Gaza.” Hamas officials have similarly vowed to continue the fight to defend Gaza from the Israeli incursion if the fighting resumes.

If the conflict is frozen, it will echo the bloody nose Israel got from Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War, where, despite superiority in numbers, equipment, and foreign support, the IDF could not defeat the militant group, and was ultimately forced to withdraw.

* Israel and its Western allies consider Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other militant groups in Gaza as terrorists, but many other countries, including Russia, China, Turkiye, and Iran do not.