So-called Oct. 7 militant terrorist in US news footage not what he seems

By Aynur Seyma Asan

ANKARA (AA) – A closer look at footage of a so-called Palestinian militant terrorist shown on US and British television showed he was not what he was presented to viewers to be.

On Oct. 12, five days after an attack by Palestinian group Hamas, the Israeli army took local and foreign media to the area where the Tribe of Nova Music Festival was held, a few kilometers from the Gaza border and a focus of news of about the Oct. 7 attack, as some 260 people were killed at the festival grounds.

In footage on US Fox News – known for its right-wing, anti-Palestinian stance – and British Sky news, the noise of guns can be heard in the area where Israeli soldiers were doing a security check. A man is then shown captured, with the Israeli army leading him blindfolded in his underwear, calling him a Palestinian militant who infiltrated Israel from Gaza.

But very soon the man, who the Israeli army called "a militant with a knife in his hand who escaped from Gaza and was caught on suspicion of having a suicide vest,” can be seen behind Israeli soldiers trying to warn cameras away. The footage clearly shows him very clearly with no blindfold on, putting his trousers back on, and so was not a militant terrorist as he was presented, but instead someone put in front of the cameras to look like one.

The evidence of fabricated footage of a so-called militant terrorist comes on the heels of revelations on Nov. 20, when Israeli media reported that an Israeli combat helicopter opened fire on people at the Oct. 7 Nova Festival. This news “confirm that Israel fabricated lies to justify genocide and displacement from Gaza,” said Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar​​​​​​​