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Israeli diplomat slammed for using backstage film footage to spread disinformation on Gaza suffering

Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman faces backlash for spreading false information by using behind-the-scenes film footage in a bid to discredit the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
3 min read
10 November, 2023
Backstage footage from the film The Reality was used as misinformation by the Israeli official [screengrab/Instagram]

An Israeli diplomat faced backlash on Thursday as he flagrantly attempted to spread misinformation about civilian suffering in Gaza, where an indiscriminate Israeli bombing campaign has killed over 11,000 Palestinians - mostly children, women and elderly.

Ofir Gendelman, who is also a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was called out for attempting to pass behind-the-scenes footage from a Lebanese short film as "evidence" that Palestinians were "faking injuries".

Gendelman posted the misleading clip on social media, where it remains live and unedited despite a community note on X and hundreds of comments saying it was fake.

"See for yourselves how they fake injuries and evacuating ‘injured’ civilians, all in front of the [sic] cameras. Pallywood gets busted again," he wrote.

Film director Mahmoud Ramzi  on Thursday that the video was a behind-the-scenes clip from a short film called "The Reality", which was shot in Lebanon last month.

The film was produced as a tribute to the struggle of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were killed or had their lives uprooted after a month of relentless war on the besieged Gaza Strip, Ramzi said in the post.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Even though you saw proof that it was part of a video production, you still didn't delete the post. It shows that the people in the Israeli government are good at making misleading information, and they don't mind lying. Shame," one X user .

"Cheap and despicable propaganda: The surprising part is that this ‘evidence’ consists of behind-the-scenes footage from a published video directed by Mahmoud Ramzi," another user .

It was not the first time Gendelman was called out for peddling misinformation about Palestinians.

Last week, the diplomat shared what he called a "must-watch" chasing Hamas fighters in tunnels under Gaza.

This was  who highlighted that the video came from an Israeli forces training session that preceded the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.

In May 2021, when Israel launched operations against Gaza, Gendelman also shared a video from Syria in 2018, incorrectly stating that it depicted Palestinians in Gaza launching rockets from within a civilian area.

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