The wars on the television will never be explained - Israel and Gaza

Having always been more of a Christopher acolyte than a follower of Peter, I still subscribe to the Hitchens scripture. And yes, the theocratic analogy was quite deliberate.

In an otherwise faultless polemic on Israel and Gaza, he had this to say:

The fate of Israel will be decided in people’s minds, in countries like ours, and on TV screens, not by bullets and high explosive. Each episode of this kind makes that future more doubtful.

At first I was staggered by that. I do find the small victories on Twitter and on the messageboards of liberal newspapers to be tedious, especially as the backdrop is death and destruction of real people, not of arguments and points. We may like to think that starting hashtags on Twitter and supporting John Snow means that the Israeli army will cease, but they won't. Britain doesn't have the same power any more. That is the real legacy of appeasement and retreat.
But wars aren't won on our TV screens. It's a fallacy. Propaganda is important, just look at the rampaging ISIS mob as it butchers Mosul, recuiting other nutters to their winning team. Or rather you can't, because they won't allow it. We can't see it, but it doesn't mean it isn't happening. And it doesn't mean they aren't winning.

There is only one country "like ours" where people's minds will decide the fate of that Israel: Israel itself.