The next speaker in this session at the 2026 International Communication Association conference in Cape Town is Bar Fishman, whose focus is on the use of atrocity tweets during the war in Gaza. Military conflicts have now become global image wars, with all sides using media images to win over public support. This seeks to produce legitimacy, sympathy, attention, and moral authority; it responds to the structural collapse of traditional public diplomacy in the wake of public debate on social media.
Ministries of Foreign Affairs therefore now have to work as round-the-clock public relations organisations; they must justify the use of military force, delegitimise enemy actions, and emphasise the violence of their opponents. The Israeli MFA did so through a series of atrocity tweets, showing Hamas atrocities following the 7 October attacks without filter – but did this work?
This study selected some 500 tweets by the MFA in the initial months after the attacks: these largely legitimised Israel’s actions and delegitimised Hamas; some did both at the same time. Some 17% were explicit atrocity tweets, seeking to morally delegitimise Hamas; this produced a moral vacuum: framing Hamas as an existential threat, and thereby justifying Israel’s own response to the attack. Images of violence produced substantial engagement on Twitter; long-form graphic videos did not: this likely is the result of audiences being overwhelmed and put off by such horrific imagery.
Such public diplomacy is a very dubious strategy. It changed international media coverage, and operationalised trauma; is it acceptable to use such human suffering as a core strategic narrative? This approach dehumanised populations across borders, and is not limited to the conflict between Israel and its enemies any more.
