‘UNAUTHORIZED’

Israel Admits It Targeted Own Citizens With Graphic Misinformation Channel

Users posted violent images of dead bodies with click-baity captions, encouraging others to “share this beauty.”

The Israeli Defense Forces admitted it is behind a Telegram channel for Israeli audiences where users posted graphic images of dead Palestinians they claimed were Hamas fighters to influence opinion on the Gaza war. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the IDF’s Influencing Department, which is in charge of “psychological warfare” against foreigners, created the channel 72 Virgins – Uncensored “without authorization and without authority.” The IDF walked back its claim that it had nothing to do with the channel, previously telling Haaretz, “There is no reason for the IDF to conduct influence campaigns on Israeli citizens of Israel.” In the channel, users post bloodied corpses of Hamas fighters with vulgar language and captions that resembled click-bait headlines. “You won't believe the video we got! You can hear their bones crunch,” one user commented on Oct. 11. “You have to watch it with sound, you’ll die laughing!” A video from Oct. 14 featured an Israeli vehicle repeatedly crushing a dead body beneath its tire treads. “Exclusive video of a good night, don't forget to share and repost,” the caption read.