Inside the IDF’s Social Media Chaos After October 7

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🎙 Filmed at M10 Studios, Tel Aviv

This is the last episode of this series. We’ll be back in late September with a special Israel Electioncast series, grilling the candidates for Knesset on their manifestos.

Hamas can establish a narrative in minutes. Israel may need hours to establish the truth—and by then, the damage has already been done.

In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Rachel Lester, a former video editor in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and author of Digital Warrior: Inside Israel’s Battle for the Narrative After October 7, about what happened behind the scenes during Israel’s information war. Drawing on their experiences inside the IDF and Prime Minister’s Office, they examine why Israel struggled to communicate during the opening months of the war—and how those failures affected its international legitimacy and freedom to fight.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Hamas uses civilian casualties and graphic images to turn military losses into international pressure on Israel
• Why the four-hour silence after the Al-Ahli Hospital explosion allowed a false narrative to spread around the world
• Whether Israel made a strategic mistake by withholding graphic footage of the October 7 atrocities
• How bureaucracy, competing audiences and institutional dysfunction undermined Israel’s wartime messaging

This is not simply a debate about whether Israel has “bad PR.” In modern warfare, public opinion shapes diplomatic pressure, military decisions and whether democracies are permitted to defend themselves. When lies travel instantly but the truth requires verification, accuracy alone may not be enough to win.

🎯 Key moment:
“Hamas has basically made sure that whatever Israel does, we lose.”

To buy Rachel Lester's book, Digital Warrior: Inside Israel’s Battle for the Narrative After October 7, click here

🎙 Filmed at M10 Studios, Tel Aviv https://m10.co.il/video-podcast-studio-tel-aviv
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EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.

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