Thousands of protesters marked a year since the terrorist attacks that triggered the latest Middle East conflict with rallies against Israel, as experts warned that Hezbollah was using images of Australian demonstrators to garner international support in a propaganda war.
Photographs taken at rallies in Sydney and Melbourne attended by tens of thousands of people at the weekend were posted to the Telegram account of Hezbollah’s news service Al-Ahed on Monday with the caption: “From Australia to the world: Stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.”
Monash University lecturer and Middle Eastern affairs expert Dr Ran Porat said Hezbollah would be delighted by the images of well-attended pro-Palestine marches in Australia.
“Hezbollah wants the destruction of Israel, they don’t care about Palestinians,” Dr Porat said. “They are clutching at straws to find someone who supports them because they are hated even in Lebanon. So they are looking for support from afar. It’s quite pathetic, if you ask me, and an example of how weak they have become.”
Robert Potter, co-chief executive of Australian cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0, said Hezbollah’s posts, which also featured pictures from pro-Palestine rallies in Los Angeles and Jakarta, were designed to gain credibility and legitimacy.
“They are using this for propaganda purposes,” he said.