As France prepares a massive security operation to protect the Olympics, a video circulated on social media purporting to depict Hamas threatening to attack Paris. But the Palestinian militant group denies making the clip, the French Interior Ministry said it could not verify its authenticity and experts say it appears to be part of a disinformation campaign.
“Islamic artist releases video threatening Paris Olympics,” reads the caption of an Instagram post dated July 23, 2024. video.
The clip shows a person wearing a keffiyeh that covers his face and a top with the Palestinian flag speaking in Arabic. English subtitles indicate that the speaker threatens “rivers of blood” over the presence of Israeli athletes at the 2024 Olympics and condemns France’s support for the country in its war against Hamas..
In the days leading up to the opening ceremony on July 26, posts with different versions of the video spread widely. Instagram, X, Facebook And other websites with subtitles in multiple languages, including French, Portuguese And Spanish.
French security forces are on alert highest alert to prevent terrorist attacks from disrupting the start of the first Olympic Games in Paris in 100 years, and Israel has warned of possible threats from Iranian-backed groups against Israeli athletes and tourists. But many quickly questioned the authenticity of the video, pointing out Arabic errors and that accounts sharing the video to appear to be connected to pro-Russian networks instead of Hamas.
“The French secret services and their partners have failed to verify the authenticity of this video,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on July 24.
Hamas has refused responsibility for the video, according to the jihadist threat analysis group PLACE (archived hereThe threat monitor quoted senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq, based in Qatar, as saying: “This fabricated video is part of Zionist propaganda to incite against the Palestinian resistance.”
‘False flag’
Darmanin said tmost of those who share the video “were either pro-Kremlin or pro-Russian messages.” However, he refused to attribute them to the Russian state itself, saying the messages could come from an “atmosphere that wants to spread disinformation (against) our country.”
Moscow has refused involvement in the videos spread.
Foreign interference researcher David Kolon said in French after on X (archived here And here) that one of the most viewed posts sharing the video comes from the pro-Russian account @aussiecossack.