Social Media has been taking the world by storm. With networking sites up such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, people can connect to each other from all around the world. These sites are used to network, keep in touch with friends and family, and find new friends. Social media has become another medium for reporting news as well. Most recently, Twitter has sparked a war with words. Social websites allow for media to stream live as it is happening.
The Hamas military chief, Ahmed Jabari was traveling in a car in Gaza when it exploded. Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago. He was killed in an air strike on a vehicle, in a dramatic continuation of Israel’s policy of assassinating Palestinian militant leaders. The entire event was played out online, and Israel and Hamas were both using Twitter to provide updates on the latest round of violence.
Ahmed Jabari was 46 and had been on Israel’s most-wanted list for a long time. He was notorious in Israel and was blamed for a string of bloody attacks, including the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006. Jabari’s car explodes when a missile fired by the Israeli Defense Force hit it. Civilians panicked and ran for cover. The death toll mounted quickly. At least four people, including two girls under the age of five, were killed, officials said.
After the death of Jabari, a tweet from the @IDFspokesperson said, “We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.”
In response, Hamas fired back on Twitter. A tweet from the @AlqassamBrigade handle that was directed to the Israeli Defense Forces Twitter said, “Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves).”
Throughout the day, the groups used their Twitter accounts to provide real-time updates about the military action. The IDF account released the news of Jabari’s death on Twitter and even posted a video of the strike that killed Jabari.
Did anyone ever consider a war happening over the Internet? A Twitter war erupting between Israel and Hamas sounds almost unreal. Such powerful images of war and destruction are uploaded daily. The advancement of technology allowed millions of people to see the death of Jabari online. The way technology has been advancing anything seems to be possible. Twitter was used to express anger, and threaten a nation.
Media has such a powerful impact on society. Twitter, alone has 175 million registered users. Tweets are constantly being created and read. The impact of one tweet can spark a war as it has been proven above. People tweet to make a statement and in this case with Israel and Hamas, it’s wartime.