How Israeli Soldiers 'Document' Their War Crimes On Social Media For The Internet To Witness

05/10/2024

War is never a good thing.

While wars may benefit certain groups or entities—such as political leaders, defense contractors, arms manufacturers, geopolitical players, private military contractors, black markets, and nations seeking to expand their influence—they usually come at a heavy cost for many others.

The greatest impact is often felt by civilians, who suffer the most from the destruction, instability, and loss brought about by conflict.

During the war between Israel and Palestinian's Hamas in particular, the Israeli soldiers have been found uploading photos and videos of how they playfully documenting their war crimes on social media for the internet to witness, for the world to see.

Just a bunch of young female Israeli soldiers pose for a photo along the Gaza Strip border
Just a bunch of young female Israeli soldiers pose for a photo along the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, February. 19, 2024. (Credit: Tsafrir Abayov/AP)

Among the many posts the Israeli soldiers uploaded, photos and videos also include the soldiers mocking, denigrating, and abusing Palestinians.

For starters, they shared how they destroyed vacated and empty homes and whatever within them, obliterating buildings, like schools and mosques, demolition of neighborhood, as well as abusing captives, among others that can also include possible unlawful killings.

One soldier posted on Facebook a video set to music showing the destruction of the town, along with a voiceover saying: "We went joyously to annihilate the village of the Nazis. We worked hard for two weeks. We blew up the entire village."

At the end of the operation the soldiers posted before and after shots of the destruction.

They're also also found looting things that interest them.

Israel war crimes

Some IDF personnel are also seen humiliating the life in Gaza, like when they are having fun riding bicycles between the ruins of a neighborhood pulverized by bombardments.

Then, there is one video that shows one soldier laughing as he types on the keyboard of an outdated computer in a destroyed school.

Additional videos since the onset of the conflict have shown IDF troops deliberately destroying businesses while laughing, setting fire to goods from inside a vehicle, and rummaging through the personal belongings of Gazan civilians.

In a video, soldiers can be seen going through Palestinian women's wardrobe in Gaza, for example.

In another video, an IDF soldier records himself rummaging through a Palestinian woman's underwear, waving them like flags, while making derogatory and sexist comments about Arab women.

Another image captures two IDF soldiers, with one wearing a Palestinian woman's bra while the other stands beside him, groping the bra and sticking his tongue out.

In a separate clip, another soldier brags about taking Palestinian women’s belongings back to his girlfriend in Israel.

One video features an IDF soldier sitting atop a tank with a female mannequin dressed in a black bra and helmet, jokingly claiming, "I found a beautiful wife, serious relationship in Gaza, great woman."

In other posts, Israeli soldiers forced blindfolded Palestinian detainees to pledge themselves as slaves. Widely-shared videos and images depicted dozens of Palestinian men in Northern Gaza, blindfolded, partially naked, and kneeling on the ground under the watch of Israeli soldiers.

There is at least one photo showing how a Palestinian is forced to wear the Israeli flag.

Some even reported that the war crimes the Israeli soldiers commit, also include rape of detainees, or whoever they encountered along the way.

In all, the soldiers seem to be enjoying every moment while they're at it, laughing, cherishing, and celebrating.

According to the feature-length documentary Gaza, published online by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, Israeli forces routinely shared abuses they committed on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook after invading the enclave.

Since many of these posts were uploaded by the soldiers themselves through their own social media accounts, Al Jazeera managed to track down the names, ranks and even their military units.

Al Jazeera then compiled a database containing "over two and a half thousand social media accounts, containing photos and videos placed online by Israeli soldiers."

The Israel-Hamas war has been extensively covered by media outlets worldwide, with a wide range of perspectives presented through traditional news outlets and social media platforms.

However, the Israeli government has been keen and capable in covering unnecessary information from spreading out.

During the conflict, Israel enforces strict controls on international journalists, requiring military escorts and pre-broadcast reviews of their footage. With all journalists are required to submit their materials for review, no information should be published before the Israel's authority approve of the content.

While social media is known for being the breeding ground for those who wish to spread misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, and that during conflict, social media platforms are known for being the target for propaganda, the nature of social media means that people also use it to share their lives and activities.

And this is where the Israeli government overlooked.

On TikTok, for example, the hashtag #Palestine and #Israel have a combined views of over one hundreds billion.

Israel war crimes

The internet has played an important role in delivering information.

Both sides, Israel and Palestine, have employed board and sophisticated media strategy.

Israel excels by margins, in which officials deploy bots accounts to spread graphic, emotionally charged and propaganda. They also use AI tools to help them do what they want, including to create materials to dehumanize Palestinians with streams of false, unsubstantiated, and unverifiable allegations..

Israel is also active on social media, in which it has a number of official accounts they use to inform the world the information they only want them to hear.

Officials have also use social media to rally support for military actions, to justify its killing and genocide, with the government running ads that portray Hamas in a negative light.

It's even said that the Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has allocated millions of dollars to create this kind of campaign, and that they receive help from marketing firms and influencers to carry it out.

Some of the videos of the attacks against Israel and its citizens were even reportedly spread through paid partnership with the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, and is a part of the Israeli governments sweeping social media campaign to build support for its military actions, for example.

Journalists in Gaza.
Journalists in Gaza. Photo and video they take should be inspected before they could be released to the public.

The use of social media by Palestinians during the conflict with Israel is generally community-driven.

Many of the social media activities are organized by individuals, activists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rather than by any official state entity.

In Gaza, for example, young content creators documented their lives through the war, gaining significant followings on social media. Other similar include creators living in Yemen.

In other words, the war not only happens in the real world, because on the internet, it's an information warfare.