The Persuasive Methods and Propaganda Techniques in the Discourse of the Spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas Movement (Abu Obeida) during the Battle of Tufan Al-Aqsa

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the persuasive discourse and propaganda techniques used in the media discourse of the official spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades (Abu Obeida) during the Battle of Tufan al-Aqsa (2023/2024). To achieve this goal, the descriptive analytical model was used, relying on the precise content analysis tool of Abu Obaida’s speeches. The study community also consisted of all the speeches of the spokesman for the divisional brigades, Abu Obaida, exclusively related to the selection of the "al-Aqsa Flood Battle", and an intentionally sampling number of 16 speeches was discovered during the period between October 7, 2023 and March 3, 2024.

The study reveals that the speeches addressed the objectives of Al-Aqsa Flood, and the issue of Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, the heroics, achievements and gains of the resistance in Gaza Strip against the occupation army, the occupation's human losses, and the goals of the flood. Three persuasive appeals were used; appealing to logic (logos), credibility (ethos), and emotion (pathos), by presenting arguments and evidence, numbers and statistics, and justifying the political goals of the flood in a convincing, effective, accurate, and non exaggerating way, and capturing Palestinians' and peoples' emotions to win International support for the resistance and the Palestinian cause. Many of the propaganda techniques that Abu Obaida used in his speeches emerged, such as: flashy generalities, mobilizing popular support, negative naming, and other techniques aimed at achieving the goals of the resistance in a concise precise manner. He directed his speech to the Arab nation and the countries of the world in general and to the occupation army in particular