Analysis by Agon Osmani
The armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, the militant group of the Palestinian territory, which began on the morning of October 7, 2023, developed in parallel with disinformation about it. Kosovo was not spared from disinformation about this conflict, causing many citizens to share images (photos and videos) that did not depict the Israel-Hamas war, but either images from other conflicts around the world, or old images from Gaza, or even images generated through Artificial Intelligence.
As in the rest of the world, social media is a major contributor to disinformation in Kosovo, as are blogs and other online networks. Due to the rapid nature of information transmission on these platforms, it is often difficult for many people to distinguish between fake news and real news.
Cases of disinformation, unverified content, clickbait, fake news, and fraud have been encountered many times during this period, which have been verified by the fact-checking and verification platform, Hibrid.info.
A Facebook page named “Tempulli” published a video on October 20 with the caption “Pro-Palestinian protesters attacked the Israeli embassy in Bahrain.” After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the video is from 2012 and depicts scenes of an attack by demonstrators on a police station in the capital of Bahrain, Manama. (here)
Another case is that of the Facebook page “Gardens of Happiness”, which has over 60 thousand followers. This page, dated October 25, published a video material with the caption “Freedom for Palestine!”. In this video material, destroyed buildings are seen, and the aforementioned page claims that the footage shows the destruction of Palestine in the current Israel-Hamas conflict. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the video material was made in February and the footage shows the destruction of the Turkish city of Hatay after the earthquake of February 6. (here)
Then, the profile named Mustafa Bajrami, through an image posted on his Facebook account, where two doctors are seen performing an operation in a destroyed facility, claims to represent the Palestinian resistance. After verifying the photo with applications that detect content with artificial intelligence, it is said that there is a high probability that the image was created with artificial intelligence. (here)
Although disinformation is common in times of war and conflict, this is the first time that disinformation is being generated with Artificial Intelligence.
The phenomenon of fake news about the Israel-Hamas conflict, mainly in defense of Palestine, was also addressed in the recent show "Behind the Screens", a production by Hibrid.info. (find it here) HERE)
Meanwhile, in October, a march in defense of the Palestinians was organized in Pristina, where a group of citizens gathered with the call "Freedom for Palestine". In addition to the march, graffiti in defense of the Palestinians was also found in Pristina, the authorship of which was claimed by the group "Collective for Feminist Thought and Action".
On October 7, 2023, gunmen from the Gaza Strip, under the shield of thousands of rockets fired from Gaza, breached the border with Israel and drove into crowds inside Israeli territory, killing many civilians in the streets, in homes, and at a music festival.
Although in the early days it was reported that the number of Israeli civilians killed by armed Hamas militants was over 1,400, this figure has fallen after recent estimates. The final death toll from the attack now AWARDED to be 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139 casualties.
For journalists, the first days of the fighting were challenging as reporting was largely based on reports coming from Israeli state institutions, but also from those run by Hamas, and was difficult to confirm.
Shortly after the attack, Israeli authorities issued disturbing statements. In particular, a claim made on October 10 on the government's official X account (formerly Twitter) spoke of "40 babies killed" in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, based on a report by the channel "i24NEWS".
Asked by AFP the next day, Israel's foreign ministry, which manages the Israeli government's account on X, said it could not "confirm any numbers at this stage".
According to Bituah Leumi, the government insurance agency in Israel, 46 civilians were killed in Kfar Aza, the youngest 14 years old.
Another piece of questionable testimony was that of Colonel Golan Vach, head of the army’s search and rescue unit, on October 27, who told a group of reporters that he “personally” transported “a baby with a severed head” found in its mother’s arms to Kibbutz Beeri. According to Bituah Leumi, only one baby was killed in Beeri: 10-month-old Mila Cohen, whose mother survived.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the attack. Its air and ground offensive has killed an estimated 20,000 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip health ministry, and has left much of the territory in ruins.