Crime & Justice
Russian, Iranian trolls seen boosting Hamas atrocities online
Hamas narratives of violence and mayhem have enjoyed amplification online, as they are 'systematically spread by Iranian and Russian trolls, and boosted by state media.'
![Blood stains a wall at an Israeli police station in Sderot after it was damaged during battles to dislodge Hamas militants who were stationed inside, on October 8. [Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP]](/gc1/images/2023/10/11/44468-blood-600_384.webp)
By Al-Fassel and AFP |
A grandmother's death live streamed, gunmen's announcements to Israelis their relatives have been killed, or humiliating hostage videos show Hamas's determination to use social media propaganda alongside violence, say analysts, adding that Russian and Iranian trolls are aiding the militant group's efforts.
Mor Bayder's phone did not buzz on October 7 morning -- her grandmother's routine call to ask if she was awake.
Instead, she discovered her grandmother's "brutal murder" during the Hamas attack on a village bordering the Gaza Strip posted on Facebook, Bayder wrote on the social network.
"A terrorist broke into her home, murdered her, took her phone, photographed the horror and posted it on her Facebook wall. That's how we found out," she added.
![Israeli soldiers inspect the weapons used by their foes in front of an Israeli police station in Sderot, on October 8, after battles to dislodge Hamas militants who were stationed inside. [Jack Guez/AFP]](/gc1/images/2023/10/11/44467-weapons-600_384.webp)
Speaking to Israeli TV channel Canal 13, a tearful Bayder said the killer had called her aunt to force her to view the images of her grandmother "lying in a pool of blood" in the kibbutz of Nir Oz, just 2km from Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Unprecedented scale
Violence is the recurring theme in many other photos and videos spread online by Hamas or its supporters since the assault began on October 7.
"This is on purpose: The goal is to trigger a sense of helplessness, paralysis and humiliation," said Michael Horowitz, a security analyst at consultancy Le Beck International.
Even the most unbearable images have gone viral, including footage of a woman's partially naked body in the bed of a pick-up truck cheered by armed men.
Her mother has identified her as Shani Louk, a German-Israeli in her 20s who was at a desert rave that turned into a bloodbath early Saturday.
Another widely shared video shows a family huddled together on the ground.
A boy aged just six or seven asks his mother if his slain sister will come back, and she is forced to answer "no" in a sob -- before throwing herself across her son to protect him as the legs of the likely kidnapper approach in front of the lens.
Although such propaganda is not a new addition to Hamas's arsenal, "Today we see much more sophisticated methods of manipulation and propaganda from Hamas," said Ruslan Trad, resident fellow for security research at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Cyber attacks
The militant group has also turned to cyberattacks on Israeli targets to widen its reach.
"Various groups launched dozens of denial-of-service attacks at government and private websites, knocking them offline but causing no lasting damage," the Washington Post reported Monday.
The hacking began Sunday morning and continued through much of Monday.
One particularly effective denial-of-service attack targeted the website of the Jerusalem Post and was claimed by Anonymous Sudan, the paper said.
The group "is allied with KillNet, a Russian nationalist hacking group," it said.
"The Sudan group has added significantly to KillNet's prowess, leading some to speculate that both are fronts for Russian government services," it added.
Russian, Iranian trolls
Hamas narratives have enjoyed amplification online, as they are "systematically spread by Iranian and Russian trolls, and boosted by state media," said David Colon, a professor at the Sciences Po university in Paris.
Even China has an "ambiguous attitude," he said pointing out that video platform TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, "is letting huge amounts of shocking content slide."
By posting videos, Hamas is also providing the clearest evidence that can be traced back to the group in the short as well as long term.
"Hamas and other Palestinian media, associated with it or not, are providing evidence of war crime, which will have an impact," Horowitz said.
The militant group is already classed as a terror organization by the United States and the European Union (EU) following its suicide bombing campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s.
But Trad said the prospect of eventual international legal consequences would not be weighing heavily with the Palestinian militants.
"Hamas and their allies have no worries about being accused of committing war crimes and massacres," he said.
Where is that video that you are referring to? We have not seen or heard about such violations except by Israeli soldiers. What do you have to say about the genocide carried out by Israel and its violation of the sanctity of the people of Palestine? Where is your conscience?
O God, steady their aim. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. God is with them. Down with Israel.
Gaza_is_under_bombardment
Lie to yourselves some more.
Israel is a criminal, terrorist Zionist entity that has killed thousands of innocent children, including infants, who are guiltless.
Gaza_is_under_bombardment Israel has been killing and exterminating the Palestinians for many years and now they claim that they are defending themselves and responding to the brutal aggression by the Palestinians. They have lied and shed blood, but they describe themselves as innocent.
Israel is the one that kills women and children. Enough of misleading minds. We live in the year 2023 and everyone has become aware of what is happening around them.
Lies and deception ... Israel are murderers of children and women, the real terrorists.
The terrorists are the Zionist entity, you want to embellish the picture.
The dogs of the civilized world with animal rights, are always biased towards the more powerful- America and Israel.
What do they say with regard to the massacres of Deir Yassin, Tantura, and Sabra and Shatila?
And all the massacres and displacement of an entire people from their land?
And the Gaza massacres in all wars?
The Palestinian people have settled for the West Bank and Gaza to establish their state,
but Israel was not satisfied the rest of the land of Palestine, so it contended with them over what remained of the land, which is theirs.
So it has bisected the West Bank with settlements, and besieged Gaza for decades.
And the world with animal rights has not moved a finger.
Today it is moving for Israel.
Dogs in human form...
What the Palestinians are doing in response to what has been happening to them including killing and bombings for years, and their expulsion from their lands, you consider them to be terrorists, but what do you say about the killings and mass bombings by the Israelis? God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs with every oppressor.
A fallacious article. Islam forbids the killing of the elderly, women and children. Beside that, Israel is the one that kills everyone.
What war crimes are these that you take evidence for from Tik Tok and social media? Open the history books and you will find systematic and brutal war crimes against the Palestinians, from displacement to the massacres of Sabra and Shatila, Hebron, Qana, and Jenin.
The murder of Egyptian prisoners of war.
The bombing of Bahr al-Baqar Primary School in al-Sharqia, Egypt.
The Zionist occupiers, with British and American support, entered Palestine with passports bearing the title of the country of Palestine, which they now claim is their land and are killing its people, the owners of the land.
Amidst shameful global silence.
But God's promise is true. The horde will be defeated and will turn tail and flee, and the Hour will be the time set for them; the Hour will be worse and more bitter.
All of this This is a lie and shame on health and fabricated talk Didn't you see how Israel kills children and demolishes houses on the heads of its skins #اسرائل it killed children
What liars and how impudent you are. The videos of the resistance fighters and the testimony of the Jews themselves prove that they do not kill women, children and the elderly. The whole truth is that the Israeli occupier kills dozens and sometimes hundreds of Palestinians of all ages. O God, [grant] freedom to Palestine in its entirety, mercy to the martyrs, and victory over the enemies and those who support them, like you people.
We must be rational. The inquiry should not be into the reactions, but rather into the action that has led to these outcomes...
Sorry, I believe that the Israelis must hold Netanyahu accountable if they want to live in peace.
You will be asked on the Day of Resurrection about the lies your hands wrote
Israel is a band of terrorists
The murderers of children, women, elderly and youth
Long live Palestine, O God, grant us victory soon, God willing
Israel is a lying state and Palestine is the one being harmed .
When I was a child in 1970, the Zionist entity bombed a children’s school in the village of Bahr al-Baqar and killed dozens of children. That brutal act has yet to be condemned. In 1982, during the invasion of Beirut, they killed more than 20,000 civilians, and no one was condemned eithe; that is except for the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the assassination of Yasser Arafat with poison after he signed the Oslo Accords.
A dubious website that sees with one eye, listens with one ear, and speaks with a racist Zionist tongue. Where are you when it comes to the massacre of Sabra and Shatila, the massacre of Qana, and the daily massacres of the Zionist occupation army against the owners of the land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip? You turn a blind eye to the crimes of the Israeli occupation army and its defenseless victims - children, women, and elderly - and then cry if the Palestinians wake up and take revenge even once for the hundreds of Israeli massacres...
You are an unfair and biased site, in short- not respectable.
The invincible army has collapsed and fallen owing to the belief of the oppressed in their cause and with God’s help and power. Israel collapsed, and had it not been for American and Arab support from the Eastern Mediterranean, the entity would have perished. The outcome has been postponed, the entity will definitely perish.
The entity has been a terrorist, criminal, and arrogant entity for a hundred years. It could not hold up for even two days against these people who have nothing but faith in God alone, and their cause.
Palestine is Arab and Jerusalem is ours.
Al-Fassel is an Israeli newspaper, this is certainly clear.
What war crimes are the ones you find evidence for on Tik Tok and social media? Open the history books and you will find systematic and brutal war crimes against the Palestinians, from displacement to the massacres of Sabra and Shatila, Hebron, Qana, and Jenin.
Murdering Egyptian prisoners of war.
The bombing of Bahr al-Baqar Primary School in al-Sharqia, Egypt.
The Zionist occupiers, with British and American support, entered Palestine with passports bearing the title of the State of Palestine, and now claim it is their land and kill its people, the owners of the land, amidst shameful global silence.
But God's promise is true. The horde will be defeated and they will turn around and flee, and the Hour will be the time set for them, and the Hour will be worse and more bitter. 69737.
We hope that Hamas hurt you and then hurt you some more. Whoever was martyred in the bombing is a martyr. We seek martyrdom just as you seek life. We saw you disgraced, defeated, fleeing, and cowardly. Your words will not harm us, like farts on a tile.
Firstly,
These are not thoroughly verified statements from honest and neutral parties, as evidenced by the fact that the US President pointed to evidence and then retracted it saying, “I have not seen confirmed pictures.”
These images can be put together using artificial intelligence to appear as if they are real. This does not mean support for violence and transgressions on both sides, but rather it is a media war to give cover to positions above everything else.
Secondly,
What about Israel's transgressions and actions against the Palestinians: killings, administrative detention, violation of sanctities, and the list goes on, since 1948 to date, and everyone hears and sees, and does nothing.
Thirdly,
The Palestinians have recognized Israel and signed an agreement to establish two states. Israel’s response was to confiscate lands, establish settlements, and desingate all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Palestinians no longer have any hope of establishing their state in accordance with the Oslo Accords, not to mention the maltreatment of all things Palestinian.
Fourthly,
Israel is a state that occupies Palestinian land, and international law gives the Palestinians the right to resist to liberate their lands, especially after signing agreements that Israel has to date refrained from implementing.
In conclusion,
Transgressions by both parties are unacceptable, but hold accountable the occupier first, who has committed massacres, brutality, and displacement from 1948 to
The crimes of the occupation over 75 years have included massacres, ethnic cleansing, and the displacement of the citizens of Palestine. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza City. Most of the dead are children. Why does the international community turn a blind eye to what this brutal occupier is doing, but if the Palestinians defends their right, fleets and armies set out. Or are the Palestinians animals in human shape, as they were described by the brainless Israeli Defense Minister? They are the animals, cutting off medical, food, water and electricity supplies for 2 million people, so that those who do not in the shelling will die of hunger, thirst or disease. Can you see, or are you blind?
You are the media of lies, hypocrisy, and double standards. We trust in God, who is the best disposer of affairs, with regard to your misguided and misleading media.
Israel is a terrorist state
You are liars, you are murderers, you are terrorism in the flesh, you are criminals, you are scoundrels
As for Hamas, it is more honorable than you. By God, all of you pigs are not equal to one shoe of the Hamas movement
Zionist violence directed at the Palestinians
They're perpetrating war crimes against defenseless civilians in Gaza
Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine
Israel is not a state, but rather Zionist groups that have occupied the land of Palestine. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.