War in the Middle East: Questionable allegations against “Pallywood”

Videos and images are accumulating on social networks that supposedly prove that reports of civilian victims in Gaza were staged. However, many users fall for false reports.

“Palestinian blogger ‘miraculously’ healed within a day after ‘Israeli bombing’. Yesterday he was ‘in the hospital,’ today he’s walking again as if nothing had happened,” reads a widely circulated post. A video and an image are distributed side by side: The video shows a young man walking through the rubble in Gaza and speaking into the camera. It says “today” above it. Next to it is a picture that shows a young man apparently injured in a hospital with the words “yesterday” written on it.

The accusation: The picture in the hospital was only staged to show supposedly civilian victims of the Israeli reactions since the attack by the militant Islamist Hamas. However, the same person cannot be seen in the footage The Reuters news agency reported, among others. The video is about a 25-year-old Palestinian blogger, the young man in the hospital is just 16 years old.

The times are also incorrect. The picture in the hospital was taken weeks before October 7th, more precisely the photo was published in August. The 16-year-old lost a leg during an Israeli raid on a Palestinian refugee camp.

“Pallywood” is trending on social media

That Hamas and other Palestinian organizations stage images of civilian victims in order to arouse pity and incite hatred of Israel is a widespread accusation online. Under the hashtag “Pallywood” (from the two words Palestine and Hollywood), videos and images are shared that are supposed to prove the accusation. The term became known, among other things, through the 2005 documentary of the same name by the American Richard Landes.

As a Analysis of “Logically Facts” shows, the term was mentioned more than 146,000 times on social networks by more than 82,000 users between October 7th and 27th. According to Logically’s head of research, Kyle Walter, widespread skepticism about images purporting to show civilian damage risks distracting from the real humanitarian problems facing civilians.

Recent examples of false reports and targeted disinformation surrounding the war in the Middle East show that the militant Islamist Hamas and its affiliated organizations cannot be classified as trustworthy sources. However, many of the images and videos associated with the term Pallywood circulating on social networks are incorrect or taken out of context.

Picture shows corpse – not a doll

For example, some users are circulating a picture of a Palestinian man holding the body of a child in his arms. However, it is said that the man is supposedly not holding a real child, but just a doll. But that is wrong. Photo agencies also have pictures of the scene in which the man and the corpse can be seen. It is not a doll.

Also false is the claim of a post that supposedly shows two women who appear as Hamas supporters in one image and pose as civilian bomb victims in another image. As the Dutch journalist Peter Burger writes on the short message service X (formerly Twitter), the women in the pictures are not the same.

Videos and images that are intended to prove that people in body bags are not really dead, but rather actors, are often created in a completely different context. For example, one of these videos is Filming a zombie advert in Algeria and not, as falsely claimed, about Palestinians faking deaths. In another video there is one Protest demonstration by students in Egypt in 2013 presented as supposedly current evidence.

Accusation against ARD and ZDF

In pro-Palestinian circles, a video has been circulated in recent days to supposedly prove that the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF would report one-sidedly in favor of Israel. There will be a short excerpt of one daily News-Post about the release of Yocheved Lifshitz, who was taken hostage by the militant Islamist Hamas. It is written about it: “How neutral are ARD and ZDF?”

By daily NewsThe article says about Lifschitz, who was held captive for more than two weeks: “In front of the press she tells what she experienced. The kidnapping, beatings, guarding.” Lifschitz is then quoted as saying: “I went through hell. One I couldn’t have imagined.”

In the shared video, a cut follows shortly afterwards, along with the text “vs. reality”. Afterwards, an excerpt from Lifschitz from a BBC report will be shown. There she says – translated by her daughter – that the hostage takers were very friendly towards the hostages. For example, they were provided with medicine.

Different facts

The edited clip suggests that in the ARD and ZDF deliberately provides a one-sided picture with a view to the war in the Middle East. The quotes from Lifschitz refer to two different situations.

By daily NewsIn the article, Lifschitz speaks of the kidnapping itself. She described it as “hell,” as can be seen in many other media outlets. The terrorists raged in their kibbutz Nir Oz, killing and kidnapping people and making no distinction between the old and the young.

Two men kidnapped her on a motorcycle. One of them hit her on the ribs several times during the trip to the Gaza Strip. The quotes from the daily NewsThe article is therefore reproduced correctly and refers to the kidnapping.

During her time as a hostage, however, the hostage takers were friendly to her, says Lifschitz. This can also be seen in many media reports, including the one shown in the clip BBC video report. The apparent contradiction in their quotes from the daily Newscontribution and that of the BBC are therefore neither, as their statements refer to different phases of the hostage-taking. Both quotes can be found in articles from both daily News as well as that ZDF find.