The images are nearly unbearable: photos and videos showing acts of extreme violence committed in cold blood. Many of these videos are readily accessible on X, formerly known as Twitter, and have yet to be removed or censored. They purport to show atrocities being committed during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Germany, the EU, the United States and other governments.
Because of the disturbing violence on display, this article intentionally contains only screenshots and archived forms of the videos.
Claim: A user from the United Arab Emirates with more than half a million followers shared a video (warning: extreme, graphic violence) on X that appears to show the execution of at least two people. The user calls Israelis "sadistic barbarians" who "only bomb or stab in the back" and goes on to accuse Israel of engaging in ethnic cleansing in the current conflict with Hamas, using the video as evidence. Posts containing the same video and similar claims can be found in Persian and Turkish.
DW fact check: False.
The footage was not from the Gaza Strip, nor was it taken recently. No Israeli soldiers were involved. A reverse image search, for example, using Google Lens or TinEye, confirms that the video is over 10 years old and originated in Syria.
Reverse image searches of individual scenes from the video led to identical videos published in 2013. Accordingly, the video in the UAE user's social media post does...
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