So MTV made this huge deal about how US soldiers are YouTubing war clips from Iraq with Limp Bizkit soundtracks. How cutting-fucking-edge! It’s such a dumb-ass format that the Iraqi insurgents themselves have done a piss-take.

But the recent events have shown that the frontline of the online battle for hearts and minds is in Israel/Palestine, not Iraq…

The internet is the main mobilising and money-raising communication tool used by the Hezbollah. But they have to fight against the combined might of the Western powers, who are watching and squashing every move they make.

Spoofing is one method used by Hezbollah hackers to get their messages out. They tap into unsecure IP addresses and set up clandestine websites where they show recruitment vids and publish secret bank account deets where sympathisers can donate cash.

Links to these sites spread through emails and blogs until the Israeli internet police find out and shut it down. Then the Hezbollah just go find another IP address to spoof. It’s a bit like the ‘Whac-A-Mole‘ arcade game, except the “moles” are Muzzies and the “whack” is an M-26 artillery rocket.

The Israelis have responded to this technological trickery by deploying various new ‘psychological operations’:

They’ve set up snitch sites where informants can “help Lebanon eradicate Hezbollah’s evil and get back its independence.”

They’ve also started prank calling people in Lebanon with intimidating messages that say things like: “Hiiii! This is the state of Israel. This resistance is forcing you to stay at home like rats … Laterz!”

And although they failed to stop the Hezbollah TV channel Al-Manar from broadcasting (despite relentless bombing), they did succeed in intercepting it’s satellite transmissions, replacing it with Israeli propaganda.