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Source: http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/08/05/the-medias-role-in-hamas-war-strategy/
The Media's Role in Hamas' War Strategy
(American Interest) Richard Landes - The IDF has found a Hamas training manual that advises its combatants to use civilian shields. Hamas' war strategy works like this: 1. Attack Israel's civilians to provoke a counter-attack. 2. Hide behind Palestinian civilians while forcing them to stay, guaranteeing that the return fire wounds or kills civilians. 3. Encourage Western news media to play up the civilian suffering. 4. Conjure a firestorm of outrage around the world that eventually pressures Israel into desisting from counteroffensive measures. The Hamas strategy is win-win. If the Israelis abort a strike to avoid civilian casualties (as they often do), then Hamas is spared the blow. If an Israeli strike causes civilian casualties, Hamas has dead babies to parade before the cameras. The writer is a professor of history at Boston University.