Misinformation can be defined as inaccurate information, or simply getting the facts wrong, whereas disinformation is the purposeful dissemination of misleading information. Since Hamas fighters invaded Israel early on Oct. 7, social media has been overflowing with images and videos claiming to depict the war, making it challenging for viewers from around the globe to distinguish reality from fiction. Many testimonies of the subsequent carnage and authentic images have surfaced, however they have been mixed in with individuals who are spreading misinformation and distorting films from earlier incidents. Here is a closer look at the facts and the false information that is circulating online.
A video clip supposedly showcasing “a new air assault on parts of Israel” circulated social media as news of the attacks broke. However, as seen in a 2022 YouTube trailervideo, the footage is really from the video game “Arma 3”. An official from Bohemia Interactive, the game’s developer, also attested to the fact that the video clip on the internet was taken from the game. In the past, images from various video games have been widely shared and exploited to depict war-torn areas.
A video of a lady being set ablaze in front of a large gathering of people has been circulated on social media by some, who claim it depicts the mistreatment of an Israeli woman who was kidnapped during a festival. One post about the video on X stated, “This is the diabolic face of Hamas Jihadi terrorists torturing an Israeli girl at the Nature Festival in Re’im,” however it has since been taken down. The violence in the video is real, but it happened in Central America in 2015, not Israel in 2023. CNN said at the time that the video showed a 16-year-old in a Guatemalan community being burned to death.
An air strike on a Palestinian hospital has been the recent subject of validity in zionist and pro-Palestinian circles. In the days preceding the Oct. 17 attack, the Israeli military landed “roof knocking” rockets devoid of warheads on the hospital, triggering the well-known Israeli warning to vacate structures, according to al-Ahli hospital authorities. Additionally, hospital representatives disclosed that they had received calls from Israel stating that “we warned you to evacuate twice.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “digital aide”, Hananya Naftali, commented on X after the hospital attack saying, “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza.” The post was removed without delay. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that since Hamas’ incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, Israel has carried out 51 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza. Four of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are closed as a result of extensive damage and targeted attacks. According to the WHO, only eight of the 22 UNRWA basic healthcare institutions are “partially functional.”
However, observing misinformation is one thing; actively engaging in combat, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is quite another. Following claims that up to 40 newborns were killed over the weekend near the Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas, President Biden stated on Wednesday that he had seen “confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children” in southern Israel. However, the White House promptly recanted the commander-in-chief’s statement.
With seemingly trustworthy news outlets reporting misinformation, and having that misinformation be endorsed and validated by the U.S. government, is not only harmful to those involved in the war and occupation, but also to those living outside the Middle East. University junior Nikki Sabet further discussed the harms of this spread of misinformation, “I think the misinformation and propaganda being spread is extremely harmful and is contributing to the justification of a genocide as well as the increase in racisim and islamophobia happening right now.” In fact, islamophobia has reached incredibly high levels in the West, with many comparing the anti-Muslim sentiment to post–9/11 Bush era levels.
With the rise of islamophobia, Jewish diaspora around the world have expressed fear in the new rise of antisemitism. Hamas called on “all Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and free people worldwide” to “muster all your energies, and mobilize in numbers, both light and heavy, to support Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, and the jihad waging Gaza” in a statement released on Oct. 10. With the tensions between the two areas rising, and the vast forms of propaganda being spread, this could have negative effects on both sides of the conflict.
