Lisa M
This is one of the first academic papers that critically approaches Israeli soldiers’ self- presentation in Gaza, and their documentation of their participation in mass violence during the Israel-Hamas war. This study examined audio-visual social media material created by Israeli soldiers in Gaza between 1 January – 31 December 2024.
While researchers have questioned why people commit war crimes, theories of participation in violence have historically been confined to laboratory settings and have focused on hypothetical scenarios and actions. This research used social media explore participation in mass violence in a real-world and real-time setting.
The research set out to answer the following questions:
• RQ1. Are there evident social media themes in Israeli soldiers’ depictions of their experience in Gaza?
• RQ2. How do these themes relate to Bandura’s mechanisms of moral disengagement?
This research analysed 772 unique images that were created by Israeli soldiers and posted on their online social media accounts. The analysis of the images was grounded in the important psychology theories of social identity and moral disengagement. The research found a significant degree of conformity in the images, demonstrates the collective language of war created by Israeli soldiers. As social media facilitates a rapid coordination of information, this study questioned if social media accelerates the coordination of norms of war. The thesis highlighted the lack of social limits placed on documenting and publishing acts of violence and destruction, and explored the importance that humour plays in the social media imagery created by Israeli soldiers documenting their experiences in Gaza.
Lisa has 17 years’ experience of working in emergency humanitarian assistance and crises. She has worked in several countries, including Syria, South Sudan, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq and Uganda.
Lisa became interested in cyberpsychology after listening to an Irish podcast, and decided to learn more about the psychology and its application in our modern online lives.
