There are
various videos going around about events happening in Gaza at the moment. Someone
people I know have shared some of the more terrible videos online, and I asked some
of these people, “How do you know that is real? It may be real it may not be.
It might be AI.” One person responded, “I know a fake AI video when I see one.”
I think we all like to think this is true, that we can spot a fake or AI image
if we see one. But this is becoming something we all have to be less confident
in. It is something that we have been collectively bad at for some time, and
government's abilities to fake these videos and images are just getting more
advanced.
Israel have
already been caught using fake images and videos to justify some of their actions
in the war in Gaza. 972 Magazine reports,
“On
Oct. 27, 2023, the Israeli army released an animated video claiming to reveal
what lay beneath Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical complex. It showed
underground tunnels, bunkers, and a Hamas command room — all depicted through
slick 3D graphics.
“That
information is ironclad,” insisted Mark Regev, then-senior adviser to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an interview the same day on CNN. “It’s
based on Israeli intelligence.”
Israel’s
first raid on the hospital would not come until mid-November. But the narrative
had already been set. The clip was pushed simultaneously across the army’s
Telegram, Facebook, YouTube, X, and Instagram accounts. On Netanyahu’s own X
profile, it drew tens of millions of views. Over the subsequent weeks, dozens
of international outlets would rebroadcast it for their own audiences,
invariably accompanied by Israel’s claim that the hospital served as Hamas’
“main operations base” in Gaza.
But
no such base was ever discovered. Moreover, the command room featured in the
video was not unique; it had already appeared more than a year earlier in
another animation published by the Israeli army, illustrating what it said was
a tunnel beneath a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in Gaza. The
surrounding streets in the “Al-Shifa” video, meanwhile, were populated with
storefronts from a commercial 3D asset pack — replete with fictional
establishments like “Fabio’s Pizzeria,” “Andre’s Bakery,” and “Revolution Bike
Shop.”
The
“Al-Shifa” animation would become one of the most notorious examples of
Israel’s new wartime communication strategy. It also marked the beginning of an
accelerated phase of production within the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit: having
published only a handful of 3D visualizations before October 7, the unit has
since released dozens of similar videos depicting supposed terror sites in
Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.
A
months-long investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call together with the
research collective Viewfinder, the Swiss network SRF, and the Scottish
outlet The Ferret analyzed 43 animations produced by the Israeli army since
October 7 and found that many contain serious spatial inaccuracies or
prefabricated assets — sourced not from classified intelligence but rather from
commercial libraries, content creators, and cultural institutions.
Interviews
with soldiers involved in the production of these videos further illuminate how
the army prioritizes the aesthetic value of the animations over their accuracy,
while animators routinely embellish in order to emphasize a supposed
threat.
The
outcome is a communications campaign that mimics the graphics of forensic
reconstructions in pursuit of legitimizing military strikes on civilian
infrastructure. And as most of the sites depicted in the army’s animations
remain inaccessible to journalists and researchers, and many have been blown up
or demolished, Israel’s illustrated allegations effectively defy verification…
…
The Israeli army presents these
videos as intelligence-derived illustrations. But in reality, many of the
environments they depict are, at least in part, borrowed from artists far
removed from the battlefield.
Our
analysis of the army’s animations found that more than half contained 3D assets
taken from third-party sources. Over 50 different third-party assets were
identified in total, which were replicated hundreds of times across animations
of sites ranging from Gaza to Iran.
A
parking lot from Washington state, scans from a boat-building workshop in
Scotland, and commercial storefront kits from the video game industry — all of
these have been inserted, without credit, into animations presented as
“illustrations” of Hamas bunkers or Iranian weapons facilities…
…
“What is especially troubling,
however, is how such fabricated content is uncritically accepted and amplified
by mainstream media outlets,” Elyan continued. “Much of this material consisted
of outright falsehoods — for instance, the widely circulated animation alleging
that Hamas operated a command centre beneath Al-Shifa Hospital. No such
facility was found, but [this claim] was used to destroy almost the entire
healthcare system in Gaza.”[1]
We modern
human beings are fascinating. We simultaneously know that there is an
incredible history of wartime propaganda. We also know that film crews and
producers are able to basically create anything on the screen they desire. We
also know the ability to create these images, or film scenes to be used for
propaganda, have never been more capable. Yet, at the same time we often
readily believe what we see.
My favourite
example of how fake what we see in the media is comes from a journalist who
went on their first reporting gig in a war zone. He noticed most of the film
crews and journalists on the bus with him were carrying jerrycans. He thought
this must have been part of the insurance for making sure they did not get
stuck in the war zone. He was wrong. After not too long the bus stopped at a burnt
out car far from the warzone. He saw a film crew go up to the car, pour petrol on
it, and then report as if they were in the warzone. If I remember correctly
they even got the guards to fire some rounds in the air. He knew from that
moment on how much of what he saw was fake. I never forgot this account.
We are quick
to think the other side is presenting false messages. But the truth is that
lies and deception are basic elements of warfare. Not just modern warfare, but
all warfare. In the modern age though, one of the core components to justifying
warfare is keeping the populations of your own country and allied countries on
your side. If you don’t, a public outcry can lift up that can make it hard for
your government to achieve its war aims. Hence, nations are hit with massive
levels of misinformation and disinformation.
Israel may
have been caught doing this, but I would not single them out in this regard.
This is something we should expect to see from every side in warfare. We should
be especially sceptical when these videos purport to justify long held
narratives or are used to justify doing things which are general considered wrong,
or against international law. When we see such videos or images we should refuse
to accept them as credible until solid forensic evidence has been provided for
claims.
I once
thought that everybody had learnt this lesson because of the debacle that was
the 2003 War in Iraq. I thought that we had all learnt as a society how to spot
the lies. But I now see, most people learnt nothing. And many people fall for
the exact same kind of lies they told to justify that unjust war. This I find
remarkable. I now see people all over my social media feeds pushing clear war
propaganda of their own free will. People who should know better, people I know
did know better on other issues. We human beings are simply so susceptible to
constant messaging it can cause us to lower our defences even on issues where
we once saw through the governments lies.
This article
is not really meant to be seen as a criticism of Israel, either. Governments
will deceive during war, especially when they want to do something immoral or
that is generally considered distasteful. We should know this. The criticism
really is for the rest of us who keep falling it. Stop. If we stop believing
their lies, we might just disempower them in some way.
Something to
consider at least.
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