Israel Palestine coverage shows what we've lost in Elon Musk's Twitter takeover - Alexander Brown

Unverified videos and accusations highlight the problem of following a conflict on social media.

On Tuesday, an explosion tore through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, prompting universal outcry.

The response online was immediate, with political figures of all persuasions criticising Israel for what was believed to be a missile strike. The thing is, we don’t know that it was.

While Hamas were quick to put a death toll on the strike, saying 500 had been murdered and it was from an Israeli missile, for their part, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denied all knowledge. They claimed it was a botched attempt from Hamas to shoot towards Israel, shot from a cemetery near the hospital.

The IDF produced an audio clip of Hamas terrorists allegedly discussing the misfire, but with no way to verify it. With experts in the field dismissing it, it’s far from proof.

The truth is – well the truth is, we don’t know. Twitter, now rebranded as X, was full of people purporting to be military experts explaining the weapon didn’t explode or do the scale of damage normally associated with Israeli missiles, while others accused Israel of lying, pointing to a now-deleted post from an IDF spokesman praising the attack. The problem is, they aren’t really an Israeli spokesman. They are just another person who’s paid for Twitter because their own thoughts or expertise isn’t strong enough to garner a following.

That’s what social media has become without verification, a mess of false claims or questionable footage with no real way of verifying anything, with the conflict and debate around Israel Palestine drowning in fake claims and spurious accusations. What’s more, serious news organisations or serious politicians are swallowing them up.

With no verification or proof of who bombed the hospital, the BBC claimed it was from the IDF. With no evidence beyond a statement from the terrorist organisation Hamas, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn blamed Western political leaders for allowing it to happen.

I’m not unsympathetic. Hearing about the constant atrocities being met out by the Israeli Government demands outrage. But in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, this is what we get – immediate responses instead of immediate investigation, demands for action instead of inquiries for details.

It’s not an isolated incident either, with videos of people in Britain’s streets calling for Jews to be raped being shared as a reaction to the conflict, when I remember being disgusted at them three years ago. Nobody is checking, but everyone is outraged.

It was the same with claims that Hamas had beheaded 40 babies – a shocking, disgusting and appalling act, but one that remains unverified. But truth doesn’t matter. Far more people will see Joe Biden claim it happened than see the White House’s admission the US president had not seen any such pictures or obtained confirmed reports. Social media isn’t just spreading misinformation to you and I, it’s doing it to people with the nuclear codes.

This is a horrible, terrifying and brutal war, with a far-right Government bombing civilians in the face of murderous terrorists with little interest in peace or freeing Palestine. All these claims do little to further a cause, they just muddy the truth in a conflict that needs no exaggeration to horrify.