Israel-lies
By Ellen Cosio
Though with little success, Israel has made its attempts to push propaganda in western countries. There have been many instances in which Israeli people and the government have tried to seem like victims, whether it be false accusations towards Hamas or pretending to be “frontline” volunteers.
The latest conflict in Israel-Palestine has been raging for over three months. In that time, you’ve probably seen countless videos and posts on TikTok telling you what is really going on and what you should do about it. Whether you are aware or not, algorithms have pushed videos that showcase the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which in turn shape our perception, often crossing the line between information and propaganda, which is where things can get really dangerous as people are manipulated and coerced, usually without even knowing it.
One of the most popular videos of the Israeli propaganda is of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) going into the emptied out Al-Rantisi Hospital, after having invaded northern gaza, claiming that it was a Hamas base. The IDF went across the whole hospital looking to find evidence of a Hamas base, and even though Al-Rantisi hospital was found to have weapons within, there were absolutely no control or command centers throughout the hospital. The clip from this video that made a storm on social media was of the IDF claiming to have found a list of Hamas guards when in reality it was just an Arabic calendar. While “analyzing” the video, the IDF spokesperson claimed that the title of the list was, “we are in operation against Israel”, however, upon further inspection, the accurate translation was simply the days of the week. Not only did they come up with a complete lie on the spot, the IDF spokesperson was pretending to read the writing: left to right, when the Arabic language is always read: right to left. Yet somehow this is not the most surprising part of this story, many news channels chose to air this video on live television without fact checking or even asking an Arabic translator for their opinion.The amount of carelessness that this clip was handled with is unbelievable, it is a blatant spread of misinformation by major news stations that people rely on.
However this is not the only way in which zionists (someone who advocated for an independent Jewish state) have attempted to push the image of a victimized Israel on social media. A Tiktok user by the name of [...] had posted a video in the midst of the Israel occupation on Palestine claiming to be “farming” for the war effort. This creator was called out for not only wearing clean white shoes, but for farming lettuce! A vegetable that has little to no nutritional value with a very high water content and low calorie count. In a war, it is extremely uncommon for vegetables and/or fruit to be harvested without a high nutritional value in mind. Before the occupation of Palestine, a large portion of the agricultural workforce in Israel was composed of Palestinians and other foreign workers, but since conflicts arose on October 7, 2023–these workers have been barred from working or have fled in fear of being captured as war hostages. It is no wonder that Israel has to rely on volunteers and foreign imports to feed their country while starving Palestine.
Although Social media is a primary means of pushing propaganda, the terms used when describing the conflict could also shape the point of view a person ends up taking. The usage of words such as “war” and “open air prison” suggest that Palestinian officials and representatives are just as involved as the Israeli government. It is important to note that there can be no war without both nations having a military and as it stands Palestine has no official military. Hamas is a resistance group founded by the people of Palestine as a means of breaking free from Israel's brutal occupation dating back to the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. It is more conscious to use words like occupation and colonial power to emphasize the fact that Palestine is helpless to the power of Israel.
If you would like to learn more about propaganda and lies that Israel has put out, I encourage you to do your own research and as a starter to watch Gaza: Lies Israel has fed the world since October