I admit: I shared the videos that arrived when the events in the Gaza envelope began. Not on social media. The videos show Hamas operatives galloping through the streets of the communities. There was also an audio clip calling to go immediately to the Sderot police station, because the terrorists were coming inside in a moment. I shared with friends data on the number of fatalities that came into my hands.
Then a completely different kind of videos began to arrive. Shot bodies, of soldiers and civilians. One video, the brainchild of Hamas propagandists, landed on my phone. They boasted of him for crossing the fence unhindered, and then showed, shockingly, how they had infiltrated an IDF base and killed soldiers in their sleep. An uncontrollable cry burst out of me. I closed the video and asked them not to send me any more horror videos, because the reality is nightmarish and horrific enough.
And the videos kept coming, but I no longer watched them or transferred. When I saw shared horror videos on social media, I wondered what makes people share videos of girls and boys, girls and boys, soldiers and soldiers and adults, whose bodies are mutilated from the murderers' bullets? What kind of mental springs do they suck from that make them not postpone the tiny satisfaction that he or she conveyed the video first? And in fact, to risk that the parents or siblings of the victims will recognize their loved ones even before they are informed that they have lost the most precious of all? On top of that, unchecked and unverified information leaked online and caused unnecessary panic.
In contrast to the disregard for human life and dignity on the networks, admirable behavior was recorded in the mainstream media. These channels, which some refer to as Al Jazeera or "panic channels," did broadcast videos, but with strict respect for the dignity and privacy of the subjects. They did not hide from the public the breach of the border and the takeover of the settlements, and also showed videos of young people taken prisoner, but with the intention of informing the world and Hamas that we know that the prisoners are alive and well and not wounded, which may tie Hamas' hands from abusing or killing them. If they do so, the entire world will join Israel in fighting them. Because even in combat, cruel as it may be, there are known rules of the game.
The planners also urged the public to show responsibility, and not to publish offensive videos or those that might reveal the identities of victims before their relatives find out.
Hamas boasted in the video that they had crossed the fence unhindered, and then showed, shockingly, how they infiltrated an IDF base and killed soldiers in their sleep. An uncontrollable cry burst out of me. I closed the video and asked them not to send me any more horror videos, because the reality is nightmarish and horrific enough
Social media has a lot of good things. They connect people, transmit information. But there are several layers in them that the legislature would do well to consider, and certainly in times of war. Legislation that will establish a series of rules for conduct in times of war on social networks. I wish that even in normal times they would not share videos that violate personal privacy, but even more so when battles are raging.
It is impossible to achieve "full control" over an emergency event without ensuring minimal control over the flow and quality of information. No one is saying to shut down, censor, or restrict networks, but they do set rules to help prioritize, censor, and control the credibility of the content distributed on the networks – and the moral validity of its distribution.
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