But something funny has happened since Operation Protective Edge started: There have been no Hamas martyrs!
Yup - in the past three days, from reading Hamas media, not a single member has been killed by the IDF. Everyone must be a civilian!
To be sure, some media outlets will note, for example, that the IDF killed five armed Hamas terrorists who were trying to infiltrate Israel from the sea. They call it a "heroic operation." They even publish photos of the dead men.But even these "heroic martyrs" have no names.
Islamic Jihad has only admitted to four deaths of its members. The Al Aqsa Brigades (Fatah) and the Nasser Brigades (PRC) have not admitted any.
This is not surprising; we have seen it before. The terror groups want to ensure that the media reports almost all deaths as being "civilian". In a few months they will quietly publish the names of their members into their online lists, after the inevitable reports from "human rights" groups publish how horrible the IDF acted.
In this case, it appears that they are instructing the Arab media and message boards not to reveal the names either. In the past, online forums would have the names of "martyrs" and their affiliation very shortly after their deaths, but so far I have not found any in the usual spots.
There is a PR war going on but the Western media have no idea how they are being manipulated.