As the third month unfolds since the Hamas-led 7 October Al-Aqsa Flood operation and Israel’s scorched earth response on the Gaza Strip, it is evident that all is not progressing as planned for Tel Aviv. Both on the ground and in the online propaganda war, Israel’s claims are consistently debunked and exposed as fake news.

Under scrutiny now is the much-ballyhooed 43-minute video compilation of 7 October events that the Israeli army has screened exclusively for select journalists and dignitaries. The footage allegedly shows the “worst atrocities” committed that day – acts that Israel says are too brutal for viewing by the general public.

When first presented to 100 international media representatives on 23 October, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari drew parallels between Hamas and ISIS. He stated Hamas had:

“Decided to commit this crime against humanity … to rape, to kill indiscriminately, to behead people. And yes … also babies. And they did this with complete understanding of what they were doing and what will happen afterward in Gaza as a consequence.”

But now prominent Guardian journalist Owen Jones, who watched the footage at a private screening, has emerged to say that not only does the video fall short of those claims, but it is being deliberately used to justify Israel’s horrific assault on Gaza’s civilians.

Horrific scenes

The fact that Jones is one of the few journalists questioning Israel’s video narrative speaks volumes about how carefully the Israeli army has screened its invitation list and limited invites to a trusted coterie of VIPs.

Like many others, Owen’s Guardian colleague Rory Carroll, who wrote about the footage after its first screening at a military base in Tel Aviv, dutifully recited the Israeli narrative without questioning its purpose. Although it is unclear whether Carroll himself viewed the video, he lists some truly horrific scenes that “left some reporters in tears,” and “included the killing of children and decapitation of some victims.”

Carroll’s only hint at a possible motivation behind the Israeli army’s video is in his penultimate paragraph: “The screening took place amid renewed appeals to Israel to halt its bombing of Gaza, which killed at least 400 Palestinians in the past 24 hours,” while adding that Israeli bombing had killed more than 5,000 Palestinians including 2,055 children, since 7 October.

But when fellow Guardian journalist Owen Jones was finally granted access to the video a month later, he found plenty of inconsistencies in the Israeli military’s assertions.

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