The video has been making the rounds on social media since last week. A Romanian journalist sent to Israel allegedly simulated a Hamas rocket attack. In the images, the journalist is lying on the ground to protect herself from potential danger. But problem, in the background, several bikes cross the road. According to Internet users, there is rigging in the show produced by the Digi 24 television channel. “Dramatic propaganda,” criticizes a first account. “Congratulations for the false and stupid report claiming that she was attacked by Hamas. One of many who try to hide Israel’s racist policies and crimes,” criticizes another.
But these accusations of fake news turn out to be unfounded. 20 minutes explains why.
FAKE OFF
On screen, the journalist in question is called Cristina Cileacu and works for the Romanian television channel Digi 24 as a producer. On the media website, other subjects were published by the same journalist. Last October 24, the reporter recounted, for example, the life of Israelis in areas bombed by Hamas. At that time, Cristina Cileacu was in Ashkelon, an Israeli town near the border of the Gaza Strip.
Using a reverse image search, it is possible to find the journalist’s initial video, without the music added in the background. The report was broadcast on October 22, around 11 a.m. At the beginning of the duplex, journalist Cristina Cileacu stands, facing the camera. She is wearing a bulletproof vest. The scene takes place in front of a main road where a few cars are driving. A cycle lane adjoins this road and a few scooters and bicycles pass behind the camera. The journalist explains that civilians there trust the Israeli army and discusses previous explosions, which have since calmed down.
A position of security
Then, an alarm sounds and the live broadcast speeds up. By translating, we understand that she asks her cameraman, Vali, to lie down on the ground behind a car (mașina, in Romanian) because there are no shelters nearby. In reality, this is the procedure when a siren sounds. Indeed, the Israeli national emergency portal recalls: “When you are outside during a rocket attack and there are no buildings nearby, you should lie down and put your hands on your head to protect it. The reason: it reduces the risk of being hit by shrapnel […]. The probability of being injured by the shock wave of a projectile landing in open space is 100% when standing and 85% when kneeling, compared to only 10% when lying down.
Despite the traffic, sirens continue to sound in the video. “It is surely the Israeli infantry who intercept all these bombs. We are going to stay like this for a little longer because we never know when the bombings stop,” explains Cristina Cileacu. The accusations made against Cristina Cileacu are therefore unfounded. The Digi 24 live broadcast was indeed disrupted by the sirens. “The Digi 24 team fully followed Israeli tracking protocol,” underlines the chain. The passers-by in the background did not respect the recommendations defined in the event of an alert. “Israelis sometimes ignore sirens, but journalists should never ignore them,” Romanian Ambassador to Israel Reuven Azar later stressed, on the social network
“Professionalism has never been questioned”
However, for several days, the Digi 24 journalist was accused of having doctored the images for Israeli propaganda purposes. An accusation which has even been raised to the highest levels of the State, starting with Victor Ponta, former Prime Minister in Romania and current advisor to his successor Marcel Ciolacu. In a Facebook post dated October 23, the former politician accused the journalist on Facebook of broadcasting “from the stomach” and of “making fun of journalists who go to theaters of war.”
On LinkedIn, she responded: “A former Prime Minister of Romania, now honorary advisor to the Prime Minister, allows himself to spread false news about my work and especially to ridicule the war in Israel. When you have no value in yourself, you try to make others less valuable. Except that a faded political career stays faded. In journalism, the truth always comes out.” Current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also added from the channel that the opinions expressed by the former politician were in no way those of his government. Before adding: “I am sorry for the situation that Cristina Cileacu is going through, whose professionalism has never been called into question.”