The amount of anti-Israel propaganda on X is pretty intense. Two days after the attack by Hamas, the IDF released a video clip showing Israeli attacks on sites in Gaza. At the very end of the clip were some images of attack helicopters firing on Hamas militants who were streaming in and out of a broken down border fence on Oct. 7.
The video was clipped and quickly turned upside down (in terms of context) by a few anti-Israel propagandists on X, apparently starting with this guy who labeled a complete misrepresentation of the video “still unconfirmed.”
BREAKING:
Footage has emerged of an Israeli helicopter killing many people at an October 7 concert in Israel.
The IDF basically fired on everyone fleeing that concert using helicopters.
Still unconfirmed. pic.twitter.com/cEWiEpUB4y
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 9, 2023
It was picked up by Syrian Girl who used the same video but added a note of confirmation. “Israel admits” firing on civilians at the music festival.
BREAKING🚨: Israel admits apache helicopters fired on their own civilians running from the Supernova music festival.
“The pilots realised that there was tremendous difficulty in distinguishing within the occupied outposts and settlements who was a terrorist and who was a… pic.twitter.com/wv6wR710qO
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾🎗 (@Partisangirl) November 9, 2023
According to X, nearly 30 million people viewed that tweet. It went viral. But the entire thing was made up. The account GeoConfirmed located the spot where these scenes took place and they were 10 km away from the music festival.
GeoConfirmed ISR – PAL Investigation.
This claim is viewed over 30 million times.
"Israel admits Apache helicopters fired on their own civilians running from the Supernova music festival."
❌DISINFORMATION ❌
This whole story is a perfect example how disinformation works.
1/X pic.twitter.com/Jahc97GUDx— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) November 10, 2023
Frame 0:04 – 0:08 is located 31.48901, 34.49712.
Here you see Hamas terrorists going towards the breach. Breach is the start of the road seen above.
Thx to @COUPSURE
Third frame is impossible to GeoLocate, but based on Sentinel some destroyed cars are on the same road.
6/X pic.twitter.com/YVkDLC8HxJ
— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) November 10, 2023
Similar footage was shared by accounts known for disinformation to build up a bigger basis for the above claims.
But every found GeoLocation of this footage also points to Apache helicopters attacking Hamas terrorist near the border fence.
Source: https://t.co/nP2PIzTc2L
8/X pic.twitter.com/1q3b93h45t
— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) November 10, 2023
Despite this, Syrian Girl is still claiming her BS claims are accurate as of today.
The pilots themselves say they did not know who was Hamas and who were people running from the music festival. The community notes is malicious and missed the entire point of the thread with their False assertion. https://t.co/fX7VfKT9Hq
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾🎗 (@Partisangirl) November 15, 2023
This claim is also false. Pilots did claim it was hard to tell who was who inside the settlements which is why they instead went to the broken down fence and fired upon people crossing the border.
Conclusion 3:
That article stated how carefully the pilots were, but at one point they decided that the threshold was crossing the fence.There is no indication at all that they were randomly attacking civilians nor did they admit to do so.
17/X
— GeoConfirmed (@GeoConfirmed) November 10, 2023
In one interview, pilots did say they were concerned about accidentally firing upon kidnapped Israelis, some of whom may have been forced back across the border with Gaza by their captors: (translation by Google)
Then what do we do? How do you shoot someone who is returning towards the border?
“Good question, and it’s a super-complex dilemma.”
Shoot? Don’t shoot? What to do?
“It’s a very difficult dilemma,” Lt. Col. A. also admits. “You look at the target, you see what’s happening there.” And Lt. Col. A. explains: “I allow myself to say that I already understand how targets behave – a kidnapped person will not run Within a group on his own initiative without anyone holding him back. And I choose such targets that I tell myself that the chance that I will shoot at abductees here as well is low.”
But it’s not 100 percent.
“To tell you one hundred percent, it’s not.”
A big weight on the shoulders.
“Crazy”.
So the pilots know it’s possible some civilians could be among the Hamas fighters streaming back toward the border. They used their best judgment to avoid targeting them but know the only guarantee is not to fire at all.
But the point is, the video above does not show groups of Israeli twenty-somethings at the music festival running from Israeli attack helicopters as the propagandists claim. It shows groups of Hamas fighters trying to run for cover near the broken fence 10km away from the festival. As for the young, unarmed people killed at the music festival, they were killed by Hamas fighters on the ground, not Israeli helicopters. No pilots intentionally fired on Israeli civilians. The claims made by Syrian Girl and others are just a lie.
Here’s a fact check summarizing some of this from France 24:
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