How much disinformation is the media engaging in Israel’s attack on Gaza?
Media houses, celebrities and social media users have been using a variety of means to express support for Israel’s attack on Gaza. One of the popular means of spreading discord seems to be by posting images of wounded or killed Palestinian children and claim they are Israeli children.
For instance, on Friday The Times UK in its print edition decided to use a picture of Palestinian children for a story, whose headline says, “Israel shows mutilated babies.” Now the headline is several font sizes bigger than the photo caption, which reads, “Palestinian children wounded in airstrikes sit in Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. Israel has said it will not lift its seige for humanitarian relief until hostages are released.”
However, in the online edition of the same story, The Times has used an image of grieving Israeli parents.
American actress Jamie Lee Curtis posted an image from New York Times contributor and freelance photo journalist Samar Abu Elouf from Gaza, captioned “TERROR FROM THE SKIES.” Once her Instagram followers pointed out that the children in the pictures were Palestinians and not Israeli, Curtis deleted the Instagram post.
Likewise, pop singer Justin Bieber posted an Instagram story, with the caption “Praying for Israel,” while using an image of the destruction of Gaza.
The image is actually from May 2021; an AP Photo showing the effect of Israeli air strikes on Gaza city taken by their photographer Khalil Hamra.
i24 News English was the first news outlet to spread the story of the “40 beheaded babies.” But soon social media was awash with screenshots from a 2019 investigation by Israeli media house Haaretz, showing how i24 News English since its inception took a pro-Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stance to obtain a broadcasting license.
After i24 News English it was next the turn of The Jerusalem Post to report on the “40 beheaded babies” story.
The Jerusalem Post is led by its editor-in-chief Avi Mayer. His bio on the newspaper’s about us page — seems fairly innocuous.
But then if one were to dig a little deeper, the Times of Israel in a largely complimentary news article about Avi Mayer taking him taking over as editor-in-chief in March 2023, mentions that he was a former spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
