Israel Wins the Camera but Loses the Gun

When the Axis of Resistance, represented by Hezbollah, Iran, and their strategic affiliates, openly aligned with Palestinian resistance led by Hamas, the Arab-Islamic world fractured internally and externally along sectarian, partisan, and ideological lines. The divisive sectarian rhetoric resurfaced prominently within political Islam between Shiite and Sunni axes.

This contentious discourse has extended into secular and religious spheres, between right and left, and between governmental views and popular opinion. Consequently, establishing a unified narrative advocating resistance and the right to liberation has become nearly impossible.

This division has weakened the Arab-Islamic region’s capacity to effectively counter Western narratives or mobilize global support in places like South Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Western countries such as Spain, Ireland, and Norway, which showed solidarity after the Al-Aqsa events.

Resistance Between Western Narratives and the Axis of Resistance

Despite the significant military successes achieved by the resistance in Gaza against Israel’s vastly superior military power—heavily backed by the U.S. and Western nations with intelligence, weaponry, and economic sanctions—this victory remained incomplete due to limited Arab-Islamic support. Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen were notable exceptions.

The political and military defeat of Hezbollah after losing key leaders, coupled with Syria becoming a neutral buffer zone after Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell, significantly impacted regional dynamics. This scenario gave rise to Zionist voices discrediting resistance slogans, particularly in light of major geopolitical shifts following Donald Trump’s presidency, characterized by aggressive use of power.

The Trump administration’s overt support for Israeli ambitions, including the controversial call to relocate Gaza’s population to Sinai, Jordan, and other Arab nations, faced broad rejection but highlighted Palestinian vulnerability amid passive Arab and Islamic stances. Popular silence in most Arab and Islamic countries—controlled by authoritarian regimes—partially explains, but doesn’t fully justify, this lack of support.

Socio-anthropological Analysis of Arab Discourse

A deep socio-anthropological analysis reveals a severe fracture within collective Arab memory concerning Palestine. Calls emerged advocating national identities over broader Arab-Islamic unity, framing the Palestinian cause as a burden for regimes heavily dependent economically and politically on Western support.

Under threats of losing Western aid, loans, and arms supplies, these governments found themselves cornered. Voices emerged advocating the removal or neutralization of Hamas during Gaza’s reconstruction phase, portraying it as a problematic manifestation of political Islam.

Meanwhile, “functional Zionist” voices among Arab intellectuals and media falsely present normalization with Israel as a panacea for regional development issues, neglecting the historic outcomes of decades-long normalization that only intensified dependency and halted meaningful development.

The Palestinian Resistance: Local vs. Global Narratives

Generations raised from the 1990s onward emerged under strong Western cultural influence, idolizing Western modernity and misunderstanding the Arab-Israeli conflict’s colonial foundations. With declining influence of progressive Arab movements following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region saw increasing ideological fragmentation and cultural estrangement.

Arab drama, cinema, and television shifted from portraying Israel as an occupying enemy to a modern, peaceful neighbor. Narratives promoting individualism, consumerism, and personal gain overshadowed collective values, signaling deep Israeli cultural penetration.

Younger generations struggle to grasp the Axis of Resistance’s origins as fundamentally anti-colonial and economically motivated against Western exploitation, with religion becoming an ideological tool rather than the conflict’s root.

The Iranian Revolution arose opposing Western monopolization of regional resources, albeit marred by problematic ideological expansions via sectarian affiliations. This allowed Western narratives to reshape political analysis through terms like political Islam, sectarianism, and tribalism, distracting from deeper economic and political exploitation.

Consequences of the Shifted Narrative

This ideological transformation shifted regional conflict away from addressing exploitation and dependency toward ideological battles between secularism and political Islam, intensifying internal violence. Consequently, regional conflicts shifted focus away from addressing global North-South economic injustices toward internal power struggles, perpetually orbiting Western influence.

This internal ideological warfare hindered Arab states from achieving political and economic independence or establishing scientific and developmental bases. Simultaneously, intra-Arab conflicts weakened collective memory and undermined confidence in Arab unity as viable for achieving collective liberation.

Western powers successfully recast the Arab-Israeli conflict as exclusively Palestinian-Israeli, framing resistance movements as sources of regional instability and chaos. This narrative justified interventions like the invasion of Iraq and undermined democratic aspirations manifested during the Arab Spring.

Building a Global Arab-Islamic Narrative

Given this backdrop, reconstructing a unified global Arab-Islamic narrative for Palestine emerges as essential cultural resistance, extending across literature, arts, cinema, and drama. Intellectual elites must reclaim central roles, transcending narrow national identities towards universal human solidarity.

Universities must foster cultural and decolonial studies, advancing scientific research in intellectual sovereignty. Civil society-supported media should actively disseminate serious, enlightening knowledge to counter relentless Western ideological campaigns.

Ultimately, developing this unified cultural narrative represents a critical, overdue response to cultural colonization, empowering Arab societies to reclaim their historical agency and resist reductionist Western narratives.