Israeli army admits running unauthorized graphic Gaza influence op
An IDF psychological warfare unit ran a Telegram channel targeting Israeli audience without approval. The army initially denied involvement, but an internal investigation following Haaretz exposé revealed its involvement
Reversing an earlier denial, Israeli military officials have admitted that the Telegram channel 72 Virgins – Uncensored was operated by members of a department of the Israel Defense Forces’ Operations Directorate.
The admission comes after a Haaretz published an exposé on the channel last month, which led to an internal investigation into the matter.
During the original investigation, sources told Haaretz that members of the unit, which is in charge of psychological warfare targeting the enemy and foreign audiences, created 72 Virgins – Uncensored on October 9, two days after the war began, without official approval and without being authorized to do so. Furthermore, the channel was directed at an Israeli audience.
The operators used coarse language in a bid to obscure the IDF’s involvement in the channel. An October 11 post read: “Burning their mother… You won’t believe the video we got! You can hear their bones crunch. We’ll post it right away, get ready.” Photos of Palestinian men captured by the IDF in the Strip and the bodies of terrorists were captioned: “Exterminating the roaches… exterminating the Hamas rats… Share this beauty.” A video of a soldier allegedly dipping machine gun bullets in pork fat is captioned: “What a man!!! Greases bullets with lard. You won’t get your virgins.” Another caption was: “Garbage juice!!! Another dead terrorist!! You have to watch it with the sound, you’ll die laughing.”
