In France, the organization of the Olympic Games is once again targeted by the dissemination of a misleading video intended to fuel public fears. This Tuesday, July 23, a recording from an account claiming to be from Hamas appeared on the networks. A video that allegedly carries a threat of an attack on French soil. It was then relayed by accounts of the pro-Russian propaganda sphere. In reality, it is a fake, viewed millions of times.
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The video was posted on July 21, 2024, on a now-inaccessible X account calling itself ” Hamas Fighter » @endzionism24. It shows a masked man making threats against France during the Olympic Games. He speaks in Arabic, but « his accent does not correspond to that of a person born in the Middle East “, assures France 24 expert Wassim Nasr. This specialist in terrorist movements recalls that Hamas ” has a spokesperson, has its own broadcast channels on the Internet, and is able to broadcast messages in the language of the country concerned ».
Historically, it should be recalled that Hamas has never threatened France, unlike other radical Islamist groups in the Middle East. This Tuesday, in an article published in the Palestinian online press, the Hamas political bureau formally denies being behind this video and blames “ Zionist propaganda to incite the struggle against Palestinian resistance ».
In the pro-Palestinian online newspaper Quds News, Hamas denied any involvement in the production of the video threatening France.
Suspicions surrounding Russia
A closer look reveals that the video appeared on an account that was created in February 2024. A dormant account, whose first publications only took place on July 19. At that time, these were simple reposts of pro-Palestinian content. This account was only used once for original content, specifically for the dissemination of this misleading video, before it was picked up by obscure African and Arabic-speaking sites. Starting this Tuesday, July 23, the video was re-shared on X, Facebook, and Telegram, but it was an account well known for being a relay for Kremlin propaganda that would give it strong visibility.
The video is finally found on Telegram channels openly hostile to France. According to our findings and after cross-checking, we cannot formally attribute this video, but the circulation pattern is very similar to that already used for the dissemination of false information from pro-Russian actors.
With Louis Champier