These three scams are currently being used to spread fake news about Hamas and Israel. Hamas terror in Israel: “We heard the dog howling as it burned in the fire.”

Nowadays, war is not only being waged on the field, but also on social media. The war in Ukraine has already demonstrated this. As soon as Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2020, the first videos started circulating on Tiktok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Co. Apparently straight from the front. Within a very short time the messages were viewed millions of times. The same can now be observed regarding the renewed escalated conflict between Israel and Hamas.

With so much information coming our way, it can be difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe. So here is a compilation of scams currently being used to spread misinformation about the escalation in Israel.

Old videos, new context

It’s a well-known scam in spreading disinformation: someone takes a real video and places it in a new, often completely made-up context. Such examples currently abound in connection with the conflict in the Middle East.

One person exposing this scam on X is British journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh, who reports on disinformation, conspiracy theories and extremism for the BBC.

Sardarizadeh writes that there is currently a video circulating on X that claims to show white phosphorous bombs that Israel would drop on Gaza. The video is real. But the context is wrong. Sardarizadeh writes: “The video is from March and shows Russia using incendiary devices in Vuhledar, Ukraine.”

Even videos from Switzerland are not spared from this strategy. On Sunday, an X user posted a video from Zurich. You see it: Hundreds of people walk past the church of St. Jakob am Stauffacher. They wave Palestinian flags and display banners reading “Liberate Gaza.” Cheerful music plays in the background.

The user writes about the video: “In Zurich, Islamic Hamas supporters celebrate the attacks on Israel.” The message is then shared diligently: on X, in blogs, on news portals. The video has been viewed more than a million times.

The message can no longer be found on X. Because he also spread false information. People actually demonstrated in Zurich and expressed their support for the Palestinians. However, this demonstration did not take place this weekend, but on May 22, 2021. SRF Research announced this yesterday.

Under the guise of reputable sources

Misinformation that someone has written in a way that gives the impression that it comes from a reliable source is also popular. For example, from a news portal or a public television channel.

The BBC journalist Sardarizadeh can also show such an example in his X-thread. An image circulated with the following headline from what appeared to be a news portal: “Israeli soldiers arrested terrorists with weapons from Ukraine near Ashkelon.”

Sardarizadeh’s verdict: “A completely fabricated headline masquerading as real news.” There is no article or report on the Internet with this headline and Israel has never made such a claim. Sardarizadeh suspects that Russian supporters are behind the fake campaign: “There is a concerted effort in circles close to the Kremlin to connect Hamas with Ukraine.”

The fake news spreaders go even further, as Eliot Higgins, online activist and founder of the investigative research network Bellingcat, shows on X. Entire videos are now even being prepared in the style of established brands. For example, a clip that resembles an Instagram video from the BBC. In the video, the alleged BBC reports on its investigation, which allegedly revealed that Ukraine supplied weapons to Hamas.

Video of computer game

In times of artificial intelligence, no one is surprised when images and videos are manipulated. Nevertheless, the war between Israel and Hamas shows once again how difficult it has become to recognize these counterfeits.

For example, the independent research center “Correctiv.Faktencheck” has released a video claiming to show the Israeli army shooting down a Hamas helicopter in Gaza. But the video of the helicopter crashing isn’t real. It comes from the video game “Amra 3”

BBC journalist Shayan Saradarizadeh also debunks an ‘Arma 3’ clip that currently has millions of views on Tiktok. This claims that we are currently seeing Israel attacking Palestinian territory.

The computer game seems very suitable for disinformation campaigns. In the meantime,