Haaretz: “Israeli” Army Is Misleading Public on Telegram

By Staff, Agencies

A report in the “Israeli” Haaretz daily shed light on how the Zionist army is misleading its public on Telegram channels.

The report underlined that the “Israeli” army is operating a channel called “72 Virgins – Uncensored”, which posts graphic pictures of the alleged bodies of Hamas fighters.

The channel, which was created two days after the October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, says it posts “exclusive content from the Gaza Strip” and encourages its 5,300 followers to share pictures and videos showing the destruction of the strip.

In one post on October 14, a video was shared of an “Israeli” vehicle repeatedly running over a body, titled “Exclusive video of a good night, don’t forget to share and repost”.

According to the report, the “Israeli” army’s Operations Directorate's Influencing Department is responsible for psychological warfare operations against the enemy and foreign audiences, operates the Telegram channel.

Meanwhile, the “Israeli” army denied that it operates the channel, but a senior military official confirmed to Haaretz that the army is responsible for operating it.

The channel was created on October 9, two days after the war began, as The Avengers. The next day the name was changed to Azazel, echoing the Hebrew pronunciation of "Gaza" and a word for hell, and then 72 Virgins – Uncensored.

An October 11 post read: “Burning their mother ... You won't believe the video we got! You can hear the crunch of their bones. We'll upload it right away, get ready.” Images of Palestinian captives and the bodies were captioned "Exterminating the roaches ... exterminating the Hamas rats. ... Share this beauty."

Each night, the channel posts a daily summary that includes several “Israeli” army updates on the activity in Gaza, with promises of exclusive images and videos. “As always, we're the first to bring you the information from the field,” it says. “We have crazy recordings of ‘terrorists’, how can we put it, swimming with the fishes. We have documentation no one else has. We promise much more!!!”

This isn't the first time that an “Israeli” army psychological warfare operation targeting an “Israeli” audience has been exposed. Haaretz revealed this year that during the 2021 war in the Gaza Strip, the “Israeli” army’s Spokesperson's Unit conducted a deceptive campaign against “Israelis” aimed at boosting awareness of the attacks and their “cost” to the Palestinians. The army posted to fake social media accounts images of the widespread destruction in the Strip and called on followers to share “so they know we are retaliating big time.”

Officials in the “Israeli” army spokesperson’s unit admitted, after the operation was exposed, that they had “erred”.

Over two years ago, Haaretz reported that the “Israeli” army hired the operator of a Telegram channel called Abu Ali Express as a consultant on the “war for public opinion on social media”.

The channel published exclusive reports, videos and pictures with its logo to its 100,000 followers, without proper disclosure of the cooperation with the “Israeli” army. More than once, the “Israeli” army spokesman referred journalists to Abu Ali Express for news on the fighting, while telling them that the information “did not come from the military.”

Under the cloak of anonymity, Abu Ali Express discredited journalists who criticized “Israeli” army policy and then-War Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In 2022, the army announced it had terminated the consultant's contract. This week, 72 Virgins shared a post from Abu Ali Express, which was given a prominent credit.

For years, the “Israeli” ambry has used psychological warfare against its enemies in an effort to undercut their narratives, influence the population [including in the Gaza Strip, Iran and Lebanon] and tout its successes. These campaigns are conducted in secret, using fake accounts, without leaving evidence of “Israeli” army’s involvement.