Personal mission fact-checking genocide takes heavy toll

Israel and its apologists deny the suffering of Palestinians by accusing them of fabrication.
Saed Abu Nabhan APA images

In the early hours of 15 October 2024, I finished writing an article debunking claims that Palestinians staged two viral videos showing the horrific aftermath of an Israeli attack on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip the previous day.

Such baseless accusations are part of a systematic Israeli campaign of downplaying the very real suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Pro-Israel users claimed that the martyr Shaban al-Dalou, seen burning to death in the footage, was an actor because he was not shouting in the viral clip shared by journalists.

These claims were disseminated on X, formerly known as Twitter, under the banner of “Pallywood” – a frequently used derogatory term that accuses Palestinians of fabricating evidence for Israel’s crimes against them. The accusation has long been wielded by Israel and its apologists, including after the videotaped killing of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durra in the Gaza Strip during the first days of the second intifada.

Despite the Israeli military’s official acknowledgment of the airstrike on the hospital, social media trolls continue to alter the truth with their biased “fact-checks.”

Downplaying suffering

After filing my article, I felt completely drained. I turned off the light and went to bed and began scrolling through X, bookmarking and saving claims to investigate later.

But as I was about to drift off, another video, with more than 3.5 million views, stopped me. It featured a worried mother watching her injured son be treated at Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza.

A user alleged the footage was staged. I contacted the original author of the clip, who confirmed the authenticity of the video.

A hateful comment on the video weighed heavily on my heart. A pseudonymous user with a significant following on X who is notorious for disseminating Israeli propaganda asked: “Is there a single video out of Gaza that isn’t fabricated?”

I paused, turned off the Wi-Fi, carefully rested my neck on the pillow, inhaled deeply and then exhaled.

A train of thoughts ran through my mind, foremost among them was how callously these trolls downplay and deny the severity of victims’ suffering.

By 6:35 am, I was still wrestling with insomnia, asking myself a string of rhetorical questions. Am I making a difference by fact-checking propagandists who alter the narrative in favor of the real oppressor?

Since the war erupted, I have contributed to 251 investigations debunking viral disinformation regarding Israeli conflicts with Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

The entire world can see who is the oppressor and the oppressed. But little meaningful action has been taken to stop the oppression.

I eventually woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It was a +970 number – Gaza was calling.

I answered the call, fearing the worst – news of something terrible happening to Gaza, my family, or my friends.

It was my mother telling me that my family had moved yet again after the latest Israeli evacuation order.

“This is our 11th place; you were with us for eight of those displacements?” she asked.

“Nine, not eight!” I corrected, my voice rising as memories of my daily struggles flooded back.

Constant displacement

I have been displaced every day of the genocide from our beloved home, which the Israeli military reduced to rubble.

At Al-Quds Hospital, where my family and I sought refuge during Israel’s invasion of Gaza City on 15 October 2023, I wore a mask constantly, as a doctor recommended, after inhaling noxious fumes from the Israeli attacks.

Sitting on the hospital floor, connected to a barely functional internet, the smell of death thick in the air, I tried to investigate misinformation that followed the massacre at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

“I am still mentally there,” I told my mother when we spoke one year after the massacre.

We talked about our family and how they are coping. Then she asked what I dreaded most: “They are saying these ceasefire talks are different. Will it end soon?”

Talk of a ceasefire is the only glimmer of hope for people in Gaza.

“Yes, very soon. Do not worry,” I replied – telling her what she needed to hear, not what I actually believed to be true.

I decided to take the day off as my mother urged me to.

I had a cup of coffee while watching the news. But before long, I was back on X. A new baseless claim had gone viral.

I opened my laptop and got back to work.

Fact-checking the war in Gaza exhausts me, but this mission is personal. I am not just boycotting companies supporting the genocide – I am fighting back in the only way I know.

I am fighting misinformation for my people and my country.

Wesam Abo Marq is a fact-checker from Gaza working for Misbar and a freelance writer for the Palestinian Return Center in London. He is currently pursuing an MA in Communications and English Studies.