A war of necessity or a war of choice, preemptive or defensive, militarily savvy or strategically and diplomatically reckless – Israel’s war on Iran arguably might be a little bit of all these.

Whatever the justification for war, the reasons appear to have changed almost daily for the past two weeks – sitting here in communal bomb shelters day after day in Tel Aviv, there is little doubt from the conversations around me that Israelis are fully supportive of this latest conflict with Iran.

Despite the psychological stress of war and the unpopularity of the government, an opinion poll published since the war started found 81 percent of Israelis said that they support the preemptive strike on Iran. That total includes 93% of the country’s Jews, but just 26% of the Palestinian and Arab citizens.

These figures, while astonishing, are not surprising. The entire Israeli political establishment, including the three main television news stations, has supported the government’s decision to strike Iran from day one.

The Israeli opposition had, within hours of the start of the war, come out in full support of Netanyahu. Frankly, when Iranian missiles are raining down on Israeli cities, to do anything less would be political suicide. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a longtime critic of Bibi Netanyahu, was recently quoted as saying, “There is no [governing] coalition or opposition in Israel.”

It is understandable that Israelis might feel this is an existential war of existence. But watching the evening news all this week, one is struck by the too often absence of meaningful political discussion of the war’s justifications or goals. There is scant, if any, outright criticism, and fair to say, anti-war sentiment is almost nonexistent.

The television news coverage here in Israel has an almost surreal feeling; it’s as if we are at home watching some natural disaster unfold, a climactic, cataclysmic flood, forest fire, or landslide, rather than a political war of choice. There are endless interviews with parents and teenagers in underground Tel Aviv car parks, sheltering from what’s happening above ground. Nobody, it seems, is asked their views on the war. A stoic, nonchalant, and at times cheerful mood dominates the conversations. The message is clear, we – Israelis are the victims – this is after all a tough, cruel and unforgiving neighbourhood.

In this fog of war, fake imagery is now dominating social media. AI-generated videos depicting the partial devastation of Tel Aviv have gone viral. Presumably, the underlying intent of these videos is to spread belief, or hope, that Israel is on the cusp of annihilation.

George Galloway, the former Labour and Respect UK MP, has apparently joined the motley crew that believes Tel Aviv has been destroyed.

Galloway has posted online some quite bizarre claims suggesting that the international media is in cahoots with the Jewish state in denying the destruction of Israel’s commercial capital. Galloway claims “Tel Aviv that now looks like Gaza,” but apparently you don’t know it, “because anyone releasing pictures of the damage in Tel Aviv immediately sent to five years in prison”.

And how does George himself “know this”? Because he apparently has friends in “Dizengoff Square” in Tel Aviv, in and of itself odd, the equivalent of Piccadilly Circus in London or Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

George Galloway has always been a fringe and eccentric political figure, and he is arguably even more marginal today, but his views are echoed by some vocal politicians on the European so-called radical left. At times, he has been an apologist for authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes. Who can forget the infamous “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability” speech to Saddam Hussein in 1994.

But Galloway’s recent, somewhat unhinged online rant takes conspiracy theories about Israel to a new level. News for George, the sirens and booms are real in Tel Aviv, but construction sites are busy, and the coffee shops are full (well, almost).

Of course, anti-Israeli conspiracy theories are all too common since the Hamas terror attack of October 07th. Israeli authorities deliberately allowed Hamas to attack in order to justify a war in Gaza. Victims in Gaza were actors staging propaganda videos. Israel was responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk,

The list is depressingly endless, but conspiracy theories or fake news about Israel’s destruction seem to have grown exponentially, even since the last war with Iran just nine months ago.

I may have unwittingly fueled these conspiracy theories. A few nights ago, I chose not to go to the communal bomb shelter more out of exhaustion and curiosity, and instead went to the balcony, where I foolishly stood for a minute and a half recording the night sky, capturing bomb sirens, flashes, and booms from intercepted Iranian missiles. I shared it on Facebook, then went to bed.

As of today, four days later, it has received over 30k likes and over 1.4 million views.

Since then, I have received hundreds of friend requests, mostly from countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

I shared the clip mainly to show Irish friends and family what many Israelis were experiencing, including what I was going through multiple times a day. I didn’t do so to elicit empathy; there was precious little empathy in Ireland toward Israel in the days and weeks after October 7th.

I don’t doubt the clip went viral in parts of the Middle East and South Asia because it showed Israel under attack; the sirens, booms, and flashes conveyed not just vulnerability but, for many viewers, the very existential weakness of the Jewish state. The abrupt, shaky ending, which perhaps indicated something catastrophic had happened (my phone ran out of space), probably added to the doomsday drama.

Fake news about Israel’s destruction seems to have grown exponentially, even since the last war with Iran just nine months ago. Same protagonists, same theatre of war, similar framing of war inside Israel (pre-emptive war of existential necessity) and Iran (criminal military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime).

Perhaps the only notable difference? Nine months of rapid technological advancement and widespread use of artificial intelligence to generate a new conspiratorial fog of war.

Of course, that doesn’t fully explain poor George.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)