By Ranjona Banerji
The amount of misinformation, disinformation, carefully crafted lies and dangerous propaganda which is regularly spread on social media has been amplified by the Israel-Palestine situation. And more disturbing are the reports that the most disinformation has originated out of India.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/analysis-why-is-so-much-anti-palestinian-disinformation-coming-from-india
And as this report from Boom Live shows, “verified” Indian accounts on X, formerly Twitter, are often responsible.
https://www.boomlive.in/news/israel-palestine-gaza-hamas-middle-east-war-conflict-fake-news-disinfo-meghupdates-ajaychauhan41-mrsinha-jix5a-twitter-x-23311
Not surprisingly, most of this disinformation is pro-Israel, anti-Palestine and intrinsically anti-Muslim. Several right-wing handles have begged Israel to allow them to join in the fight. This includes some Hindutva figures as well. These are the usual handles, some are likely to be BJP IT cell’s Rs 2 trolls, which attack Muslims in India, attack Pakistan every now and then and currently, during the ongoing cricket World Cup.
The level of Islamophobia is clear when you look at how fact-checkers are targeted. Boom Live has fact-checked many videos out of the conflict. But it is Mohammed Zubair of Alt News who gets the most hatred on social media, for his fact-checking on X. To the extent that several Israel government handles have blocked him. Top of the list of those who target him is filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, known for his Modi-BJP-RW propaganda films. He is not yet of the calibre of Hitler’s infamous propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, but mainly because he cannot even match her calibre or innate talent.
The Israel-Hamas “conflict”, or the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas and Israel’s massive response, or the relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israel after the Hamas attack, however you want to describe what is happening, has certainly shaken the world out of its complacency and into its usual set of predictable reactions.
Most governments of the Western world have positioned themselves as pro-Israel and have conflated all Palestinians with Hamas. Some of the western media has followed suit.
The venerable BBC issued a weak wibbly-wobbly apology about the lies in news reports which stated that the pro-Palestine rallies held across the UK were pro-Hamas.
https://thehill.com/homenews/4258749-bbc-apologizes-palestine-hamas/
The following was tweeted by a BBC presenter: “Earlier we reported on some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the weekend. We spoke about “several demonstrations across Britain during which people voiced their backing for Hamas”.
“We accept this was poorly phrased and was a misleading description of the demonstrations.”
(see screenshot)
This is not an apology. It is a vague acceptance of what can only be called deliberate misrepresentation.
On the other hand, this also happened:
https://www.ft.com/content/c998bfa4-ad8e-4c61-9117-61a57aa9a92a
This excellent analysis by Newslaundry goes deep into how the media takes sides:
https://www.newslaundry.com/2023/10/14/between-the-new-middle-east-and-medias-myopia-a-shrinking-palestinian-voice
The bias is not unknown, but it always surfaces:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/israel-palestine-war-biden-zelenskiy
The extreme reaction of shock and horror to the story of 40 Israeli babies being beheaded by Hamas was instant. Subsequently, the news that this horrific story was just that – a piece of fiction – was debated and contested even though there was no evidence, no confirmation and several later denials.
There was no such reaction to confirmed reports of Palestinian babies killed by Israeli fire. The human capacity for disgust and disapproval was used up by one bit of what appears to be fake news spread by a TV journalist who heard it from an Israeli soldier but did not confirm its veracity.
What we see then is that between social media and mainstream media, the viewer, consumer and customer are being fed on prejudice and hatred. By agents of hatred and by those who should know better.
Meanwhile, this is still happening:
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/oct/17/with-humanitarian-aid-blocked-at-egyptian-border-gaza-draws-closer-to-total-collapse-2624732.html
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.