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.
A security source who asked not to be named told AFP: “The first analyses point to a Russian operation under a ‘false flag’ due to a bundle of clues.”
A “false flag“attack is a war ruse in which attackers operate under false or ambiguous identities to deceive opponents and potentially cause an escalation of conflict.
One of the first accounts to post the video on X was @endzionisme24The . now-suspended page was created in February but remained silent for several months.
It started sharing content a few days before the video was posted, a typical pattern for inauthentic accounts spreading disinformationMany of the messages were anti-Israel.
“The video was then reposted on X by accounts known to be part of Russian networks and forwarded by African sites known to be conduits for Russians,” the security source said.
In addition to the physical security around the Games, the authorities Worried about cyber attacks and disinformationFrance in particular is a target because of the support it gave to Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Inconsistent language and characters
A Arabic-speaking AFP journalist said the man in the video makes several grammatical and syntax errors. Many online criticized his pronunciation of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) at the end of the clip.
Another security source told AFP that “the visual codes of Hamas propaganda are missing” in the video.
Hamas militants killed 1,197 people in Israel on October 7, 2023 attack — according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, they are mostly civilians.
Of the 251 people taken hostage that day, 111 are still being held in the Gaza Strip. According to the army, 39 are dead.
Since the start of the war, more than 39,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry did not provide details on the number of civilians and militants killed.
According to the Israeli army, 327 soldiers have been killed during the military campaign in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
A Palestinian demand that Israel be banned from the Paris Games because of the war in Gaza was turned down by the head of the International Olympic Committee and French President Emmanuel Macron. Athletes from both delegations took part in the competition on July 26 opening ceremonies.
Read more about AFP’s coverage of Olympic disinformation here.
