Thread by @YourAnonCentral

The Israeli X account called @GAZAWOOD1 linked to vast disinformation network and an Israeli general. The account uses disinformation & misinformation to coverup Israeli war crimes online at a massive scale. #3E #FreeGaza

forbiddenstories.org/gazawood-israe…

Who’s behind Gazawood? It was created in November 2023. Its mission is to spread disinformation and propaganda promoting the idea that all media from Gaza is fake in an effort to cover up Israeli war crimes. Images & videos of Israeli crimes get labeled “Pallywood” & mocked.

Behind the account is Idan Knochen, an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Jerusalem and a former fantasy novelist. Supporting him is Richard Allen Lande, a US academic who pushed the original “Pallywood” disinformation after the Israeli murder of 12 year old Mohammed al-Dura in 2000.

Brigadier General (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser helped setup Gazawood and provided it with a network to help it spread its disinformation. Kuperwasser formerly headed the Research Division of the (IDF) Intelligence Corps. He also served as Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, and served as as Israel’s Intelligence Attaché to the United States. He was among the founders of Havatazlot, the flagship program of the IDF Intelligence Corps.

“I have not been directly involved in the project. I connected Richard with [various people] so he could present the idea to them.” The “various people” are assumed to be echelons of Israeli intelligence.

Mentions of “Pallywood” rose by 5,838% after October 7, 2023. Mentions of Gazawood itself surged 29,913%. The account is amplified by influencers, a website, Telegram channels, and a network (linked to Israeli intelligence) designed to spread its disinformation far and wide.

Disinformation ops like Gazawood’s serves to dehumanize Palestinians by casting doubt on every image of suffering and every report of war crimes. It fuels the narrative that all evidence from Gaza is fabricated, making it easier to dismiss atrocities and evade accountability.

According to Marcus Bösch, a researcher at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and an expert on disinformation and social media, Pallywood-Gazawood looks like a trap set for both professional journalists and the general public.

Bösch: “These lies are simply bigger, stronger and also trigger more in the brain.” In his view, “This whole debunking, fact-checking game is actually ineffective in many situations because then the other side debunks the debunker again . . . it’s an endless iteration.”

The only defense against this strategy used by criminal regimes, like Israel and also Russia, is vigilance: think critically, check facts, and insist on genuine accountability not propaganda dressed as skepticism.