social media played a factor. why this didn't escalate further is probably due to a variety of reasons but diplomacy being one of them. israel was beaten up in the court of world opinion. this is the first time they fought a fight like this in social media. i tried for days to get into gaza and every day turned around. we might get into gaza tomorrow but after the cease fire takes effect. but despite the fact that the media building in gaza was destroyed, despite the fact that foreign journalists weren't allowed to report on the ground there the word got out from gaza. the people were taking the