4 Gaza Propaganda Tactics Ripped Off From Internet Trolls

Yes, like a frustrated grandpa who can't figure out which side of his iPad has the screen, Israel has decided to delegate the task of maintaining its online reputation to a bunch of kids. The photo above shows the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, one of Israel's top private universities, where about 400 volunteer students work in shifts that run from 9 in the morning until 8 at night doing what teenagers do best: arguing with other people on the Internet.

The student volunteers tirelessly trawl social media and troll anti-Semitic threads, discrediting posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr that show Israel in a bad light. This digital defense force mass-reports anti-Semitic Facebook pages until they get closed, counters Hamas propaganda, and presumably downvotes pro-Gaza comments on Reddit and Cracked to oblivion. They are also extremely proficient in the use of hashtag technology:

twitter.com/israelunderfire
"These are nuclear-grade hashtags. Caution is advised."

And the creation of image macros, of course:

twitter.com/israelunderfire
They wanted to use a Braveheart quote, but, you know.

The "Israel Under Fire" team, as the student organization calls itself, is so efficient at spreading the pro-Israeli message that the Israel Defense Force occasionally collaborates with them during military action. The prime minister of Israel himself has recognized the value of social media, purchasing promoted Tweets for those posts that have just a little extra anti-Palestinian pizzazz. The Palestinian version of this isn't so fancy -- it's run by the military arms of Hamas and known as the al-Qassam Brigades (which doubles as the name of their World of Warcraft guild, we're guessing).

The cover photo and profile picture of Israel Domino's Pizza's Facebook page were changed to Hamas militants, inflicting Israeli children everywhere with the lifelong traumatic message that no Facebook page of any restaurant you love -- no matter how delicious their cheese may be -- is safe from the influence of Hamas and their guns. And speaking of cowabungaing reptiles, the hackers also mocked the Israelis with a photo of people hiding in a sewer, perfectly setting themselves up for this response:

matzav.com
"Blasted turtles! Foiled again!" -Hamas' leadership

Eventually, the crack team at Domino's wrestled control of the page back and retaliated by turning the hacked profile picture into a macro, with the Hebrew words meaning: "You cannot defeat ... the Israeli hunger for pizza!"

via smh.com.au
Or American ... Or Canadian ... Or everyone ...

Israeli hackers also sought revenge by taking over or disabling various Hamas sites -- you know, actual websites for the Palestinian organization, not their fast-food restaurants. Yeah, this war may never end, but Israel probably won this battle.

Only that's not "Gaza right now" -- according to an investigation by the BBC, some of the images that were going viral with the #Gaza hashtags, including the ones above, would more accurately be described as "Gaza years ago" or "Syria and Iraq." Which isn't to say that the other side doesn't like to bullshit, too. We've all heard the accusations that Hamas uses children as human shields, which is backed by the discovery of missiles in empty schools. But it was even worse than we thought: Turns out Hamas militants are literally holding children in front of them as shields, according to a video that was posted last July and quickly went viral thanks to people spreading their daily dose of slacktivism.

via YouTube
"This buys me karma for ignoring, like, at least three homeless people."

But again, none of it was true. As one user eventually pointed out, the original footage was from good ol' Syria again, and since it doesn't help anyone win any Internet arguments, it went largely ignored. And then you have cases like the viral image supposedly showing a Palestinian girl with an exploded head caused by the Israel Air Force -- WARNING: the following picture is extremely gruesome and extremely fake.

via Facebook

How can we be sure it's fake? Because we very much doubt they killed a real woman when they originally shot this scene for the movie Final Destination 4:

Shit, that thing has a higher budget than the Expendables 3 if you fired the cast. The song above, entitled "Up, Do Terror Attacks," comes with a music video of images of Hamas militants preparing and firing rockets into the Israeli night sky. With lyrics like "Eliminate all the Zionists," "Burn bases and soldiers," "Turn their world into a scene of horrors," and the "Up, do terror attacks" refrain, it's hard to imagine what, exactly, Hamas is trying to say here. And then, for some reason, it ends with Hamas soldiers showing a banner underwater.

via YouTube
"You're next, fish. Fuck you."

The Arabic version of this song has been circulating around Gaza since 2012, but Hamas decided to record a new Hebrew-language version last July to make sure the Israelis got the message. However, the effect it had was the opposite: Israeli teens are singing the pop song for fun, because apparently the Arabian singer's terrible Hebrew accent and bad lisp have turned "Up, Do Terror Attacks" into the equivalent of Elmer Fudd singing "Gangsta's Paradise."

Hamas released another Hebrew-language song called "Shake Israel's Security," but they cheaped out on the video (it's just stock footage of rockets going up) and replaced the singer. Awww, you hurt the other guy's feelings.

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