Israel posts video saying ‘there are no innocent civilians’ in Gaza
Israeli government accounts on X have been posting a video with a quote from a freed Israeli hostage, where she says “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza.
Israeli government accounts on the social media site X have been posting a video with a quote from a freed hostage, in which she says that “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza, a claim that is sparking protests online because of the Palestinian death toll in the country's military campaign in the region.
The video is a compilation of images and clips related to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the Gaza conflict that has followed. A narrator says that Gazan civilians participated in the Hamas attack and then helped to hold the hostages in the months since.
The video, which is 51 seconds long, also includes footage from an interview with Mia Schem that was conducted in December shortly after she was released. About 15 seconds into the video, she begins speaking in Hebrew, with her words translated onto the screen in English. Describing her experience being held in Gaza and her outlook on people living there, she says, “They’d enter the room (children of the family) from time to time to look at me as if I’m an animal. There are no innocent civilians there. Families there live under the Hamas.”
The video appeared on X from the Israeli government’s main account, @Israel, according to screenshots posted by multiple other users. The post was no longer online Thursday, and it was not immediately clear whether Israel took down the post or X did. The same video, though, appeared on other X accounts maintained by the Israeli government, including in posts from Israel’s embassies in Lithuania and South Korea and another from its consulate in Los Angeles. Those posts were still online Friday.
Some users on X and Instagram posted screenshots of Israel appearing to have used the video in an ad on X, paying the site to boost the video’s visibility.
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