Amid the Israeli–Hamas war, social media casts the divide between the global left and the liberal world order into stark relief.
A deep ideological conflict between the global left, backed by China, and the liberal world order led by the United States, has guided the geopolitical narrative war in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to experts.
That liberal international order—a governing philosophy defined largely by the United States—has guided the use of power in the interests of freedom in the decades since World War II. It is now under attack as never before, say experts, an attack that extends from physical violence to conflict in the halls of global social media.
As the Israeli–Hamas war intensifies, the discourse surrounding it is getting louder. Each side is bolstered by massive social media communities with seemingly no common ground. Many non-profit organizations on both sides have reported massive backlash to their viewpoints on social media, while nuanced viewpoints have also been condemned.
Lack of common ground is not new in the military and political war front between Israel and Palestine. However, never-before-seen social media apparatuses, allowing discourse that in many countries is otherwise state-censored, has upscaled the wider conflict and amplified it within the national political discourse of many countries with sizable Muslim populations or strategic relations with Israel.
When “Operation Cast Lead” took place in Gaza in 2008, the number of internet users worldwide was 1.5 billion, compared with today’s 5.3 billion, according to Statistica. Combine that with the exponential increase in social media platforms, internet, and mobile technology, to get a context for today’s burgeoning narrative wars.
Nishakant Ojha, an adviser to various Middle Eastern nations in West Asia on counter-terrorism issues, told The Epoch Times that the conflict between the global left wing and the liberal world order is a complex and multifaceted issue.
“A political converse plays a significant part in shaping and pressing ideological conflicts. Following the attack, there may have been increased debates girding the global left wing’s station on the Israel–Palestinian conflict and the liberal world order’s response to it,” he said.
In fact, the discourse on social media and online platforms has itself become a means of geopolitical war-mongering between public opinion communities aligning with the global left, led by China, and the liberal world order led by the United States and encompassing Israel.
By Venus Upadhayaya
