Israeli social media reactions

Israeli military and diplomatic social media accounts have been active since the start of Saturday’s march, challenging the portrayal of the protests as peaceful but raising a few eyebrows in the process.

In one tweet, prime ministerial spokesman Ofer Gendelman claimed that women belonging to the Islamic State (IS) militant group were participating. However, the photo he shared was only of women wearing the niqab, without any IS iconography or explanation about how they were allegedly linked to the group.

A foreign ministry official was also challenged by journalists over his use of a picture of a Palestinian man holding a knife and wirecutters, not specifying when it was taken and claiming it was an image only Israeli media would share and not the international media. Israeli journalists do not report from inside Gaza.

The Israeli army has also been part of the social media campaign, making a series of jokes ridiculing the idea that the Great March of Return is a peaceful protest.