Since theOctober 7 attacks, which initiated the ongoingGaza war, there has been a spread ofconspiracy theories, largely onsocial media, focused on the argument that the attacks or elements of the attacks were falsified or exaggerated.[1]
On 7 October 2023,Palestinian militant forces led byHamas coordinated multiple armed incursions from theGaza Strip into theGaza envelope of southernIsrael, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the1948 Arab–Israeli War. Following a wave of rocket attacks on Israel, militants breached theGaza–Israel barrier, attacking Israeli military bases and carrying out multiple massacres of Israelis. Ultimately, 1,139 people were killed in the attacks, and around 250 were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, beginning the ongoingIsraeli hostage crisis. The course of the attacks was well documented, with militants extensively recording their actions withbody cameras.[2]
Nonetheless, various debunked and disputed reports of atrocities during the attacks were described byHaaretz as providing "ammunition" to deniers.[3] Some reported atrocities attributed to Palestinian militants were later proven false, among themthe supposed killing or beheading of babies and toddlers.[3][4][5] The extent ofsexual violence perpetuated by militants, or whether there was a weaponized use of sexual violence at all during the attacks, has also been the subject of intense debate and controversy.[4][6][7][8] Furthermore, according toYnet, an "immense and complex quantity" offriendly fire incidents occurred during the attacks;[9][10] Israel also likely applied theHannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 12 as they were being transported into the Gaza Strip and accidentally killed 2 other Israeli civilians. However, claims that Israel killed more than 14 Israeli civilians remain without evidence.[11][12][13]
The spreading of falsehoods and misleading narratives that disputed that Hamas was responsible, or claims that minimized the violence that occurred, began to spread after the attack.[14][15] Common claims are that theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) completelystaged the attacks to justify aninvasion of the Gaza Strip, and that all or most Israelis killed during the attacks were slain by the IDF itself.[1]
According to the Israeli newspaperHaaretz, malign actors spreadingdisinformation purposefully decontextualized their reporting to "falsely claim thatHaaretz corroborated the false theory that the IDF committed mass killings of its own people". According to Shayan Sardarizadeh,BBC Verify's disinformation expert, the "denialist narrative" that "it was Israel that killed its own civilians on 7 October, not Hamas" has "sadly become prominent online".[16] Some incidents of friendly fire by IDF soldiers and kibbutz security teams against civilians attempting to flee or captured and brought into Gaza during the October 7 attacks, were corroborated later.[17][18]
Researchers see parallels todisinformation surrounding theSeptember 11 attacks, which some fringe groups argue was perpetrated by the Israeli intelligence agencyMossad. Joel Finkelstein of Network Contagion Research Institute stated that "there's a built-in audience that wants to deny thatJews are the victims of atrocity and further the notion that Jews are secretly behind everything." He said efforts to say Israel was responsible for October 7 are part of a broader strategy byantisemitic extremists to undermine Jewish suffering.[14]
These claims were found across the Internet, including on theReddit subforum 'LateStageCapitalism' and on publications critical of Israel such asThe Electronic Intifada andThe Grayzone. They have also been popularized by right-wingHolocaust deniers includingOwen Benjamin and far-right conspiracy theorists. The claims are based oncherry-picked evidence to push misleading narratives.[14] ATelegram instant messaging group, which had also shared content and conspiracies relating to foreign policy and theCOVID-19 pandemic and had nearly 3,000 people on it in January 2024, pushed content and conspiracies blaming the attack on Israel.[19]
In March 2024, the Israeli firmCyberWell, which usesartificial intelligence (AI) to monitor, analyze and combat antisemitism on social media, reported they had found about 135 separate posts that had been viewed by more than 15 million users that denied the October 7 attacks. The company found that almost half of the identified posts were fromTwitter, with others posted toFacebook,TikTok, andInstagram.[20]
Hamas has taken full responsibility for its leadership of the 7 October attacks.[21][22][23] The group released a report in January 2024 about the attacks titled "Our Narrative", which claims that its armed wing, theal-Qassam Brigades, avoided harming civilians, yet admits "some faults" occurred as a result of the general chaos and rapid collapse of the Israeli defenses.[24]
Emerson Brooking from theDigital Forensic Research Lab at theAtlantic Council compared denial of the 7 October attacks toHolocaust denial. Brooking also stated that extremists will work to attract people who are concerned about thehumanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip towards misleading information and conspiracy theories, and that "a rewriting of history" is occurring.[14]Jennifer V. Evans has also tied the denialism surrounding October 7 to Holocaust denial.[15]
Gideon Levy has compared October 7 denial toNakba denial, where many Israelis deny the atrocities their country inflicted on thePalestinians during Israel's creation.[25] Levy argues that many Israelis also deny killings of civilians in the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.[25] Gil Gan-Mor said that denial of both theNakba and the October 7 attacks must be combated through education.[26]
The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs approved a bill aimed at penalizing denial of the October 7 attacks, imposing up to five years in prison for such acts on February 5, 2024.Yisrael Beiteinu MKOded Forer the bill, which is aimed at individuals who deny the occurrence of the massacre or attempt to justify, praise, or support the acts carried out during the event.[27] The Association of Civil Rights in Israel said the law will have a "chilling effect on freedom of speech".[28][29]
Casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7, but the IDF believes that beyond the operational investigations of the events, it would not be morally sound to investigate these incidents due to the immense and complex quantity of them that took place in the kibbutzim and southern Israeli communities due to the challenging situations the soldiers were in at the time.
In accordance with the disinformation playbook, malign actors have sought to hijack and manipulate the reputation and credibility of long-established news sources. In order to establish an "authentic" grounding for atrocity denial and conspiracy theories, it is unsurprising that influencers would seize on an established Israeli outlet like Haaretz, to co-opt its credibility and misrepresent its reporting. Haaretz has reported on two instances where sources told reporters that in the midst of the massacres, IDF forces firing at Hamas terrorists may have also hit, not confirmed killed, some civilians. Malign actors have exploited this reporting, published with no context, to purposefully decontextualize it and falsely claim that Haaretz corroborated the false theory that the IDF committed mass killings of its own people. This disinformation was then shared by others – some perhaps acting with good intentions, but creating misinformation nonetheless. According to the BBC's Sardarizadeh, the denialist narrative that "it was Israel that killed its own civilians on 7 October, not Hamas," has become appallingly widespread online.
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