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Sabine Sterk: The Hubris of the Unheard: How Bureaucratic Arrogance is Costing Israel
Is it my trauma speaking, or is history preparing itself to repeat once again?
I never thought I would write words like these. For most of my life, defending Israel was not simply an opinion or a political position. It was part of who I was. From the age of thirteen, I defended Israel relentlessly, long before social media influencers turned advocacy into a career and long before online activism became fashionable. I defended Israel because I believed in truth, justice, survival, and the right of the Jewish people to exist safely in their ancestral homeland.
And now, after decades of advocacy, I am reaching a point where I no longer recognize the mindset of the very people I fought for.
Not because Israel lacks military strength. Not because Israel lacks intelligence capabilities. Not because Israel lacks brave soldiers. Israel still possesses all of those things.
The danger is something far deeper.
Israel still refuses to understand that modern warfare is no longer fought only with tanks, fighter jets, and missiles. Wars today are fought through narratives, perception, propaganda, emotional manipulation, social media algorithms, and psychological warfare. The battlefield is global public opinion. And on that battlefield, Israel is losing ground rapidly.
What terrifies me is that many Israeli officials still behave as if this reality does not matter.
For over a decade, I infiltrated anti-Israel social media circles undercover. Not for attention. Not for money. Not for fame. Nobody knew my name there. I monitored the rhetoric, translated Arabic messages, watched patterns emerge, and tried to understand the emotional machinery behind the hatred.
I know the language of the Middle East. I lived in Syria among extremely radical Muslims who hated Israelis with every fiber of their being. I lived near the Hanging Square in Damascus, where public executions took place openly. Every Friday, bodies would hang there with signs explaining their alleged crimes. That reality changes you forever. It teaches you how hatred sounds before it becomes violence.
And hatred always follows a pattern.
The world often thinks terrorism begins with bombs and guns. It does not. It begins with repetition. Repetition of slogans. Repetition of dehumanization. Repetition of martyrdom rhetoric. Repetition of chants that normalize violence until violence becomes inevitable.
That is why what happened before October 7 still haunts me every single day.
In the days leading up to the massacre, the rhetoric in the WhatsApp groups I monitored intensified dramatically. Messages increased from dozens per day to hundreds. “Allah Akbar.” “Peace upon the martyrs.” “Death to the Zionists.” Endless glorification of sacrifice and revenge.
Something felt wrong.
On October 6, 2023, I spent hours translating messages and sending warnings to contacts in Israel. I tried reaching people connected to Israeli organizations. But because Shabbat had already started in Israel, communication became difficult. And then I made the mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
I stopped pushing.
I told myself I would continue after Shabbat.
The next morning, I woke up to horrors that are now burned into my soul forever. Videos of slaughtered Israelis flooded the same channels I had monitored the day before. Celebration. Congratulation messages. Joy over death.
There are images no human being should ever see.
And ever since that day, I have carried guilt that never disappears completely. I still ask myself whether screaming louder could have made any difference at all.
Maybe not.
But maybe yes.
That uncertainty destroys people.
After October 7, I could barely continue monitoring those groups. The trauma was too severe. But recently, I had to check them again for a contact person. What I saw deeply disturbed me. The rhetoric is building once more. Maybe not with the exact urgency of October 6, but unmistakably building.
And once again, when I warned people, I received the same dismissive responses.
“What makes this different from ordinary anti-Israel content online?”
That question alone proves the problem.
People still do not understand that organized digital radicalization is not random internet hatred. It is operational preparation. It is psychological conditioning. It is coordinated narrative warfare designed to normalize violence long before violence occurs physically.
The anti-Israel ecosystem online is highly organized. Far more organized than many people inside Israel are willing to admit. They understand emotional storytelling. They understand algorithms. They understand visual propaganda. They understand how to manipulate public outrage. They know exactly how to turn every Israeli mistake into global ammunition.
And Israel still reacts too slowly, too arrogantly, or not at all.
This is not about abandoning facts. Facts matter enormously. Hamas committed atrocities on October 7. Israelis were butchered, raped, kidnapped, burned alive, and executed. Those crimes are real.
But facts alone no longer determine public opinion.
Emotion does.
Visual imagery does.
Narrative dominance does.
And while Israel continues believing military superiority guarantees long term survival, its enemies are winning something far more dangerous: international perception.
Many Israelis still underestimate how rapidly global attitudes are changing. Even allies are growing exhausted. University campuses are radicalized. Social media platforms amplify anti Israel messaging endlessly. Western societies increasingly frame Israel through the language of colonialism, apartheid, and oppression, regardless of historical complexity.
This did not happen overnight.
It happened because Israel repeatedly ignored the media battlefield while its enemies mastered it.
Every avoidable controversy becomes another weapon. Every image spreads globally within minutes. Whether it is footage from Gaza, extremist rhetoric from Israeli politicians, incidents involving settlers in Judea and Samaria, administrative detention controversies, or viral videos showing cruelty or humiliation, the damage compounds endlessly.
And what makes this situation even more dangerous is the arrogance with which criticism is often dismissed internally.
Warnings are ignored.
Alternative perspectives are mocked.
People who understand propaganda warfare are treated as unimportant.
Meanwhile, anti-Israel networks continue growing stronger, smarter, and more coordinated.
I offered help multiple times. I shared warnings. I proposed ideas to counter online radicalization and propaganda campaigns. Silence was the only response.
That silence is what finally broke me emotionally.
Because this is not about politics anymore.
It is about survival.
A nation can survive military attacks for years. Israel has proven that repeatedly since 1948. But no country can indefinitely survive total diplomatic isolation, collapsing global legitimacy, and a generation raised to see it as inherently evil.
That is the real danger approaching now.
And perhaps the most painful part of all is this: I still love Israel deeply.
That is exactly why this hurts so much.
Watching a country ignore strategic reality while believing itself invincible feels like watching someone walk toward a cliff while refusing every warning sign along the road.
I do not know whether Israel has already crossed the point of no return. I truly hope not. But what I do know is this: if Israel continues treating social media warfare, psychological operations, propaganda networks, and global public perception as secondary concerns, the consequences will become catastrophic.
Not tomorrow.
Not next week.
But soon.
History has shown repeatedly that civilizations rarely collapse only because of military weakness. Many collapse because of arrogance, complacency, internal blindness, and the inability to adapt to changing realities.
And right now, that is exactly what frightens me most.
