Dr. Ron Schleifer: ‘Israel must fight back against psychological warfare’

Dr. Ron Schleifer, a lecturer at Ariel University and an author of numerous books on psychological warfare, spoke with Arutz Sheva – Israel National News about the mental effects the threats from Hezbollah and Iran are having on the Israeli public.

“There are two main two main principles at work now, from the whole arsenal of psychological warfare. The Iranians, for various reasons, cannot bomb Israel right now, so instead they use the tactic of keeping Israel from knowing if they will try. They and [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah supposedly have very powerful weapons, but they can only use those once, so they resort to this instead.”

Schleifer said that attempting to control the media response to such tactics may prove impossible. “You can’t control it because there are so many media outlets, as well as social media, and they all need new material all the time. The government has made an error in not disseminating more of the enormous amount of information it has to keep public attention focused on the right things. The enemy, who does not have Israel’s technological capabilities, has filled that gap with their own information.”

He emphasized that it is possible to defend against such an approach. “You have to decide that you want to fight back. You have to write a doctrine just like the military does, assign budgets, and hire experts. This is a a central and unique part of a war even though it doesn’t yield obvious gains. It has to be professional and long-term.”

The same principles apply whether targeting civilians or the morale of enemy troops: “You must make your own soldiers be patriots and enemy soldiers pacifists. You have to direct messages to your own soldiers about why we need to fight. In terms of our enemies, we need to convince them that this life is important too, not just the afterlife, and that they have a chance.”

Schleifer noted that one attempt to build this kind of message has failed already: “The messages that we delivered for decades about turning Gaza into Singapore did not work. We have to find the perspective or right aspect of how to change Islamist ideology into Islamic ideology – and there is a difference.”

He concluded by speaking about the importance of the public being informed. “People should know how they are being manipulated. They have to develop critical thinking and understand the principles of psychological warfare. If you see something in the media, ask yourself who put it there, and try to understand what interests it serves. I’m not saying to turn off the TV and phone – just to use it wisely.”