Blood on the Battlefield of Perception Israel vs. Hamas By Howard Bloom

Frankly, I was horrified by the coverage of Israel’s retaliatory strikes on October 29th.  Horrified by the headlines claiming “strikes kill more than 100 in Gaza.” And horrified by the mainstream media’s coverage of this entire Gaza war.  

The mainstream media has been hijacked by Hamas. Hijacked by Muslim movements that want to see Israel exterminated and the world’s Jews dead.  

October 29^th’s headlines began the previous day, when Israel reported that its soldiers were attacked inside the territory allocated to them by the Trump truce.  A rocket propelled grenade and sniper bullets were fired at a group of Israeli soldiers.  One Israeli fighter, a father of five, was killed.  

The Israelis retaliated by attacking 30 Hamas commanders and command positions, hideouts, and weapons depots across Gaza.  

But remember.  Hamas protects itself by surrounding its military centers with civilians.  This is a war crime.

The Hamas Ministry of Health, which is a propaganda arm of Hamas, claimed that 104 Palestinians had been killed, including 40 children and 20 women. 

But to understand this headline, you need to know something crucial.  The Gaza War is being fought on two battlefields:  the ground on which soldiers fight; and the battlefield of perception. 

Muslim nations like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have been working to infiltrate the American mainstream media for 30 years.  And they’ve succeeded. 

For example, one of the key articles on the Hamas truce violation was written by NBC’s Chantal da Silva.  Da Silva grew up in Toronto with a Portuguese mother and a Pakistani father.  Pakistan opposes Israel’s existence. 

Chantal’s family has a history of advancing the cause of Islam.  Her great grandfather was active in the All-Indian Muslim League.  A league that played a major role in cutting off a piece of India and turning it into a Muslim state, Pakistan. At a cost of up to two million lives.

And Chantal’s beat seems to be covering anything that makes Israel look bad.

But to understand what’s going on in Gaza, it’s also fundamental to remember what Islam means to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Not to mention to three other Islamist groups coming back to life—ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram.

To these groups, Islam means following a command issued by Mohammed in 627 AD.  A command to conquer the world. As Seif Al-Din Al-Ansari wrote in al-Qaeda’s online magazine, 

 “Allah told us of the certainty of the annihilation of [people like you and me] the infidels…by means of the Muslim group, which would, in accordance with the Islamic commandment…torture them…The question now on the agenda is, how is the torture Allah wants done at our hands to be carried out?” 

Starting in 2008, Hamas deliberately built 500 miles of military tunnels under the civilians of Gaza’s most populous places.  Hamas planted its command and control centers under hospitals, schools, and mosques.  Why?  

Because that’s where civilians gather in the greatest number. And, to quote a member of Hezbollah in 1981, “Islam is a tree that grows on severed limbs.”  

In other words, Hamas put its military infrastructure below civilian centers so that when Hamas would break through the border with Israel on October 7^th, 2023, and torture, rape, and kill 1,200 Israelis, Israel’s Defense Force would not dare respond by hitting Hamas’ military centers.  

A popular Islamist slogan says, “We love death more than you love life.” In Islam, death is not a loss, it is a gain. Why?  Every Muslim civilian who dies in war is a martyr and goes directly to heaven. 

On the other hand, Westerners deplore the deaths of civilians.  So every civilian death can be used to send Westerners into a righteous fury. 

Influence operations by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran have inserted Muslim reporters into American news outlets from the New York Times on down.  Hamas has used these journalists to turn the deaths of babies into bullets—media bullets. 

The result is that in the past year, polls report that condemnation of Israel has replaced love of Israel in the hearts of Americans.  In other words, Hamas may be losing its war for territory.  But it has won the war on the battlefield of perception. 

______

About the author: Howard Bloom of the Howard Bloom Institute has been called the Einstein, Newton, Darwin, and Freud of the 21st century by Britain’s Channel 4 TV.  He is the author of eight books, including The Muhammad Code:  How a Desert Prophet Brought You ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram. Bloom’s newest book is The Case of the Sexual Cosmos: Everything You Know About Nature is Wrong. Says Harvard’s Ellen Langer of The Case of the Sexual Cosmos, Bloom “argues that we are not savaging the earth as some would have it, but instead are growing the cosmos. A fascinating read.” One of Bloom’s eight previous books–Global Brain—was the subject of a symposium thrown by the Office of the Secretary of Defense including representatives from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT.  Bloom has appeared over forty times on Iranian and Saudi TV. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Psychology Today, and the Scientific American. Not to mention in scientific journals like Biosystems, New Ideas in Psychology, and PhysicaPlus. Says Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Evolution’s End and The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, “I have finished Howard Bloom’s [first two] books, The Lucifer Principle and Global Brain, in that order, and am seriously awed, near overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. I never expected to see, in any form, from any sector, such an accomplishment.  I doubt there is a stronger intellect than Bloom’s on the planet.”   For more, see http://howardbloom.net or http://howardbloom.institute

______

References 

1. **Bloom, Howard. *The Muhammad Code: How a Desert Prophet Brought You ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram*. Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2016.** 

2. **Guillaume, A., ed. *The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah*. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955.**    *(Early biography and history of Muhammad—the Sīrah)*

3. **Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel, trans. *The Qur’an*. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.**    *(The central religious text of Islam.)*

4. **Khan, Muhammad Muhsin, trans. *Sahih al-Bukhari*. Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers, 1997.**    *(One of the most important collections of Hadith—sayings and actions of Muhammad.)*

5. **Siddiqui, Abdul Hamid, trans. *Sahih Muslim*. Beirut: Dar al-Arabia, 2000.**     *(Another highly regarded collection of Hadith.)*

6. **Rosenthal, Franz, trans. *The History of al-Tabari: The History of the Prophets and Kings*. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989–2007.**    *(A major early historical work of Islam, including material on Muhammad.)* 

7. Al Jazeera. “Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Calls for Action Against Israel at Doha Summit.” October 2025. [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/29/pakistan-calls-for-action-against-israel-at-doha-summit] 

8. Al Jazeera. “Who Are the 57 Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation?” *Al Jazeera*, September 15, 2025. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/15/who-are-the-57-members-of-the-organisation-of-islamic-cooperation).

9. Algemeiner. “Why Is Qatar Getting Away with Undermining US Interests?” *Algemeiner*, April 16, 2025. (https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/04/16/why-is-qatar-getting-away-with-undermining-us-interests/). 

10. Asharq Al-Awsat. “Islamic Consensus in Istanbul: Need for Solidarity Against Israeli Escalation.” *Asharq Al-Awsat*, October 2025. (https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5157041-islamic-consensus-istanbul-need-solidarity-against-israeli-escalation).

11. Asharq Al-Awsat. “Israel Kills More Than 100 in Strikes After Soldier’s Death, Says It Still Backs Ceasefire.” *Asharq Al-Awsat*, October 29, 2025. (https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5202706-israel-kills-more-100-strikes-after-soldier%E2%80%99s-death-says-it-still-backs).

12. Dawn. “Pakistan Reiterates Support for Palestine, Rejects Normalization with Israel.” September 2025. (https://www.dawn.com/news/1777892/pakistan-reiterates-support-for-palestine-rejects-normalization-with-israel).

13. The Express Tribune. “Pakistan Proposes UN Suspension for Israel.” October 29, 2025. (https://tribune.com.pk/story/2566894/pakistan-proposes-un-suspension-for-israel).

14. Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “5 Things to Know About the Hamas-Run Gaza Health Ministry.” *FDD*, November 2, 2023. (https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/02/5-things-to-know-about-the-hamas-run-gaza-health-ministry/).

15. Fox News. “Hamas Violates Gaza Ceasefire by Attacking Israeli Soldiers, Official Says.” *Fox News*, October 28, 2025. (https://www.foxnews.com/world/hamas-violates-gaza-ceasefire-attacking-israeli-soldiers-official-says). 

16. Global Influence Operations Report. “Qatar’s US Influence Operations: Soft Power and Crisis Mediation.” *Global Influence Ops*, April 2025. (https://www.global-influence-ops.com/qatars-us-influence-operations-soft-power-and-crisis-mediation/).

17. George Washington University, Program on Extremism. “Propaganda, Procurement, and Lethal Operations: Iran’s Activities Inside America.” *GWU*, 2023. (https://extremism.gwu.edu/propaganda-procurement-and-lethal-operations-irans-activities-inside-america). 

18. The Hill. “Qatar’s US Influence Strategy Goes Much Further Than You Think.” *The Hill*, February 2024. (https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5334791-qatars-us-influence-strategy-goes-much-further-than-you-think/). 

19. Hoover Institution. “Jews, Muslims, and the Origin Story of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” *Hoover Institution*, August 2023. (https://www.hoover.org/research/jews-muslims-and-origin-story-arab-israeli-conflict). 

20. International Court of Justice. “Written Statement of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.” *ICJ*, July 2023. (https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203781). 

21. IsraelEd. “Mixed Muslim and Arab Views Toward Jews, Zionism, and Israel: 1920s–2024.” *IsraelEd*, April 2024. (https://israeled.org/mixed-muslim-and-arab-views-and-actions-toward-jews-zionism-and-israel-1920s-2024/). 

22. Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. “Qatar’s Influence Operations.” *JISS*, March 2025. (https://jiss.org.il/en/shuker-admoni-qatars-influence-operations/).

23. Jerusalem Post. “Qatar’s Global Influence: Media, Money, and Mediation.” *Jerusalem Post*, May 2025. (https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849055). 

24. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Vance Downplays ‘Little Skirmishes’ as Israel Bombs in Gaza and Hamas Fails to Return Hostages.” *JTA*, October 28, 2025. (https://www.jta.org/2025/10/28/israel/vance-downplays-little-skirmishes-as-israel-bombs-in-gaza-and-hamas-fails-to-return-hostages).

25. LinkedIn. Shahzaib, Muhammad. “Is Pakistan Going to Accept Israel?” October 2025. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pakistan-going-accept-israel-muhammad-shahzaib-8fq9f).

26. Long War Journal. “Israeli Soldier Killed in Gaza Attack; IDF Responds with Airstrikes.” *FDD’s Long War Journal*, October 28, 2025. (https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2025/10/israeli-soldier-killed-in-gaza-attack-idf-responds-with-airstrikes.php).

27. The Media Line. “‘This Is a Clear Violation’: Israel Hits Gaza as Remains Dispute Boils Over.” *The Media Line*, October 28, 2025. (https://themedialine.org/top-stories/this-is-a-clear-violation-israel-hits-gaza-as-remains-dispute-boils-over/). 

28. Military.com. “Gaza Ceasefire Tested as Israel and Hamas Exchange Fire and Blame.” *Military.com*, October 28, 2025. (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/10/28/gaza-ceasefire-tested-israel-and-hamas-exchange-fire-and-blame.html).

29. NBC News. “Netanyahu Orders Powerful Airstrikes After Soldier Killed in Gaza.” *NBC News*, October 28, 2025. (https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/israel-gaza-netanyahu-orders-powerful-airstrikes-rcna240302). 

30. The News International. “Pakistan Hails ICJ Advisory Opinion on Israel’s Obligations in Occupied Palestinian Territory.” October 25, 2025. (https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1353159-pakistan-hails-icj-advisory-opinion-on-israel-s-obligations-in-occupied-palestinian-territory).

31. NGO Monitor. “NGO Complicity in Hamas Propaganda on Gaza Hospital.” *NGO Monitor*, October 18, 2023. (https://ngo-monitor.org/reports/ngo-complicity-in-hamas-propaganda-on-gaza-hospital/).

32. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. “Media Interactions with Muslims.” *Oxford University Press*, 2021. (https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-1102).

33. The Conversation. “Yes, Muslims Are Portrayed Negatively in American Media.” *The Conversation*, August 2022. (https://theconversation.com/yes-muslims-are-portrayed-negatively-in-american-media-183327). 

34. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Soft Power, Hard Influence: How Qatar Became a Giant in Washington.” *Quincy Institute*, January 2024. (https://quincyinst.org/research/soft-power-hard-influence-how-qatar-became-a-giant-in-washington/).

35. Tablet Magazine. “How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers.” *Tablet*, October 30, 2023. (https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers).

36. UNA-OIC. “OIC Condemns Israeli Expansionism.” *Union of News Agencies of the OIC*, August 14, 2025. (https://una-oic.org/en/general-secretaries/2025/08/14/The-Organization-of-Islamic-Cooperation-condemns-the-statement/).

37. USA Today. “Israel Says It Will Uphold Gaza Ceasefire Despite Soldier’s Death.” *USA Today*, October 29, 2025. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/29/israel-gaza-ceasefire/86962842007/).

38. Yahoo News. “Investigating Claims About Who Broke the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire.” *Yahoo News*, October 29, 2025. (https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/investigating-claims-broke-israel-hamas-234100735.html).