Postmodern war in the public sphere: Israel versus Hamas 2023–4

Abstract

The recent Israel-Hamas war beginning 7 October 2023 and continuing into 2024 has become a controversial subject among state actors and the public sphere alike. This paper will explore the reasons behind the unprecedented attention paid to the war and its implications for the broader Israel-Palestine relationship. Employing a postmodern approach, the analysis will centre on power relations among transnational actors, the role of emotions and identity-based associations, as well as the characteristics of a public sphere in the age of social media as spectators of the war. The paper will ultimately argue that the war embodies a postmodern personality, with truth often obscured or manipulated, fluctuating power dynamics, and a public sphere immersed in a hyperreality of conflated narratives. These postmodern features necessitate a reconsideration of paths to peace in the historically sensitive Israel-Palestine relationship and a review of the means to achieve desired ends.