Since October 7, the world has turned its attention to the conflict fueled after the attack executed by the Islamic group Hamas in Israel, bombing and invading Israeli cities near Gazapor. The incident prompted an armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas, which has lasted for more than a week with thousands of victims. The confrontation mobilized a large portion of social media over the world into a political and social debate on the Internet, with a predominance of the right wing in Brazil. Those are the findings of a study performed by the School of Communication, Media and Information (ECMI) at FGV.
The predominance of the right wing was notable both in terms of posts and of the average engagement on each platform. While opposition congress representatives made 156 publications about the conflict, the government and its allies made only 23 posts. In terms of engagement, the right obtained a performance more than 870% higher than that of pro-government representatives.
On social media, the debate carried out by right-wing representatives included provocations, attacks against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and associations of Lula with the Hamas. In turn, the major left-wing representatives made posts asking for a cease-fire and showing solidarity to the victims of the attack. They also criticized the Israeli retaliation for the Hamas’s attacks, claiming that the brutality against the population in Gaza was “even more extensive”.
According to FGV ECMI professor Victor Rabello Piaia in an interview with the newspaper Estado de São Paulo, the conflict in Israel was the main topic of debate among congress representatives after the attacks. Piaia stated that the topic of Israel and Palestine, which was already dear to Bolsonarist users, caused the right to recover traction on social media.
“This predominance of the right appeared very strongly in a wave of solidarity to Israel. This refers to a narrative that has been a characteristic of the Bolsonarist right, exploring its connection with Israel. Bolsonaro himself fuels this narrative. It's something that has been built for a long time. It didn’t come out of nowhere,” he explained.
See the full study here.