13 gennaio 2009

Gaza, guerra anche sulle onde radio

Questa storia di Associated Press sugli aspetti psicologici delle azioni militari a Gaza è stata ripresa da Haaretz e altri quotidiani online. E' una guerra, questa, combattuta anche con la propaganda, che va dal lancio dei volantini ai messaggi minatori. Se Sawt Al-Aqsa, stazione radio della Jihad, accusa gli israeliani di essersi sovrapposti sulle sue trasmissioni con messaggi che accusano Hamas di essere all'orgine della drammatica situazione per gli abitanti della Striscia, le autorità di governo di Gaza affermano di lanciare minacce sulle frequenze utilizzate dai walkie-talkie della Israeli Defence Force.
Che questa guerra sia anche di nervi e non si limiti all'uso di armi da fuoco, lo dimostra del resto la creazione di un canale televisivo su YouTube da parte del portavoce dell'Esercito israeliano. Qui vengono pubblicati filmati realizzati dalle truppe entrate a Gaza per evidenziare le tecniche utilizzate dalla guerriglia. YouTube viene utilizzato ovviamente per analoghi scopi anche da fonti di parte palestinese. Le onde corte invece tacciono, ma io continuo a pensare che sarebbero uno strumento validissimo.

Israel's Gaza war extends into psychological realm

By PAUL SCHEMM
Jan. 12, 2009

JERUSALEM - At first it didn't seem unusual when the faces of the Hamas leadership turned up on the group's TV network. But then they were shot down, one by one, while a message warned that Hamas' time was running out. Even as Israel's armor and foot soldiers push into the Gaza Strip in an effort to stop militants from launching rockets into Israel, the war is also being waged with psychological operations designed to sap morale on both sides. Over at Islamic Jihad's Voice of Jerusalem radio station in Gaza City, broadcaster Kamal Abu Nasser said that at least once an hour, the Israeli military also breaks into his signal and broadcasts messages blaming Hamas for everyone's problems.
Hamas, for its part, said it has broadcast messages on Israeli military walkie talkies threatening to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers. The army said it had no information on such transmissions.
The fate of Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked militants in 2006 and whose whereabouts remain unknown, is repeatedly evoked in broadcasts and statements by Hamas, which has several times has threatened to nab more Israeli soldiers. Hamas tried to spread rumors that it had captured several. At least one actual attempt failed, the military said.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ilan Tal said he would not comment on Israel's psychological operations. "If we're talking about psychological warfare, we have to learn from what Hamas is doing," he said. "We expect Hamas to intensify and increase those sort of rumors (of kidnappings) as the situation gets more critical." Hamas' ruses extend into the battlefield as they try to combat Israel's overwhelming military advantage.
Military spokesman Maj. Avital Leibovich told The Associated Press that Israel's forces have found Gaza's neighborhoods to be riddled with booby traps, including mannequins placed at apartment entrances and rigged to explode when the soldiers approach. Israel's army formed a psychological operations unit three years ago, though its initial efforts in the 2006 Lebanon war were largely restricted to drawing satirical cartoons of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and dropping them as leaflets over southern Lebanon.
More chilling at the time for Beirut residents, however, were the strange phone calls they received during the war telling them that their woes were due to Hezbollah and they should turn against the guerrillas. That particular technique has reappeared in the current Gaza onslaught, with phone calls and leaflets telling Gazans that their problems were due to Hamas. The leaflets include a phone number and e-mail address to call in tips about the whereabouts of militant leaders and weapons caches.
Ephraim Kam, the deputy director of Tel Aviv University's Institute of National Security Studies, said the role of psychological operations loomed large in this offensive, more so than in the past. "I think we did this in former wars, but in this case we had a lot of time, relatively speaking, and so much more emphasis was given to psychological warfare," Kam said.
Lacking resources, Hamas' psychological efforts have been largely restricted to the propaganda broadcasts on its own Al Aqsa TV channel, including Hebrew language messages asking Israelis to "choose between a peace that gives us back our rights or a war that will smash you down." There have also been reports of threatening text messages sent to the inhabitants of Israel's southern towns telling them to hide underground because Hamas is coming for them.
The biggest weapon in Hamas' psychological arsenal is also its best known actual weapon — the homemade rockets it sends on erratic paths into southern Israeli towns. During the conflict, militants have also used longer-range Grad rockets, hitting cities that used to be out of range. The thousands of rockets have only killed only a handful of Israelis, yet life across Israel's south has been paralyzed.
The greatest disinformation coup of the conflict so far, however, came right at the beginning of the offensive when Israeli bombers caught hundreds of Hamas security men inside their compounds. The day before a massive Israeli airstrike, Israeli military radio channels broadcast talk of a "lull" and pulled troops back from the border. Israeli defense officials now say it was a psychological warfare tactic or a "con" to lure Hamas fighters out of hiding.


5 commenti:

Anonimo ha detto...

Notizia interessante da MediaNetwork:

Al Jazeera Arabic currently using mediumwave
January 11th, 2009 - 12:52 UTC by Andy Sennitt

Tarek Zeidan in Cairo reported yesterday to DX Listening Digest: I noticed a note on Al Jazeera TV today 10/1/09 a note stating that they are transmitting on the MW freq of 954. I picked them up yesterday around 2215 UTC .

Andy Sennitt adds: This is presumably because of the current situation in Gaza. The state-owned Qatar Broadcasting Service uses 954 kHz at 0245-2130 for its main Arabic service wIth a high-power transmitter. Presumably this has been made available to Al Jazeera for overnight use. We have so far seen no reports about this in the (English-language) Qatari media.


73 And IW0HK

Anonimo ha detto...

Andrea,

non potrei essere più d'accordo con te. Peraltro, oltre alla segnalazione di poc'anzi, riterrei che comunque vada sottolineata la presenza in onde corte (con segnale peraltro elevato nel nostro paese, almeno nelle ore serali) di Galei Tsahal, la radio delle forze armate israeliane, sui 6973 khz (nel primo pomeriggio, invece, c'è una frequenza sui 15 Mhz, ma non la ricordo precisamente). E' rigorosamente in ebraico, ma c'è e non penso abbia un ruolo così secondario nella "psy war" in atto parallelamente a quella di cui sono protagonisti tanks ed F-16.

Ciao,
Chris

Andrea Lawendel ha detto...

La frequenza di Galei Tsahal cui si riferisce Chris è di 15785 kHz, tra le 04 e le 24 UTC secondo Eibi.

Andrea Lawendel ha detto...

Su Haaretz (via Enrico Oliva) è apparsa la notizia di un cyberattacco subito dal sito Web della stazione FM Israeliana Radio 102, sulla cui home page è apparso un messaggio pro Hamas. Ora la pagina originale è tornata online:

Last update - 07:12 19/01/2009
Anti-Israel hackers attack Web site of Israeli radio station
By Barr Hayoun


Anti-Israeli hackers managed to take over the Web site of Radio 102 FM on Sunday.
Clicking on one of the Website's tabs brings up a message condemning
the war in the Gaza Strip and calling for Israel's destruction.
The message is decorated by the image of a burning combined Israeli
and U.S. flag, and pictures of Palestinian children injured during the war.
Even if Israel stops the war, the message continues, hackers will
never cease their attacks on Israeli servers and sites.
The radio station, which was also successfully attacked last week, said its computer team is working on the problem.

Andrea Lawendel ha detto...

Da una decina di giorni a questa parte viene segnalata una stazione radio clandestina che ripete sulle onde corte - 5815 e 5835 kHz verso le 17 UTC - l'audio dei programmi satellitari di Al Aqsa TV. Ecco il report del radio monitor egiziao Tarek Zeidan, specializzato in emittenti clandestine della regione. E' possibile che l'origine della emissione sia iraniana.

IRAN [tent] 5815 / 5835 Based on a tip from Jose Miguel Romero, I
started monitoring 5815 kHz around 1645 UT and I could hear a call in show talking about the situation in Gaza. The tone used here reminded me of the Arabic section of VOIRI, and the Voice of the Islamic Revolution in Palestine network as well, a long talk about the resistance in Gaza and linking it to the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006. I checked VOIRI on 6065 kHz, but it had a different program, but I'm positive about one thing, the voice of the main announcer of the show is similar to an announcer in the Arabic section of VOIRI.
After a long conversation with the caller, they started playing patriotic songs, around 1740 UT I heard an ID sayig, Alaqsa channel, your eye on home. Around 1800 UT I heard another ID, Alaqsa radio.
After googling a bit I can see FM station from Gaza called Voice of Al Aqsa http://www.alaqsavoice.ps but not on MW or SW so is this a special network - by VOIRI - to support the ppl. in Gaza ? I have to keep an ear on that freq. and will keep you posted.
[later] After checking with my Satellite receiver I noticed that what I'm hearing on 5815 kHz is matching what I'm watching the audio feed of Al Aqasa TV channel. I noticed that they are transmitting on the Nile Sat
satellite 7 West. So I wonder who's getting Al Aqsa TV audio carrier on the SW !?
[later] I can confirm that as well, and the reception on 5835.05 was much better than 5815, but it didn't last for long.
(Tarek Zeidan-EGY, dxld Jan 9)
New station supporting Gaza on 5815 - Radio Al Aqsa. Emphatic speeches in Arabic and revolutionary-sounding music heard on 5835.05 kHz since 2115 UTC tune-in. Reported on 8 January by Jose Miguel Romero on 5815 kHz // 5835 kHz. Abruptly off at 2152 UTC on 5835.05 kHz.
(Tony Rogers-UK, dxld Jan 9)