Video of Israeli soldiers 'rioting' predates Gaza war
- Published on January 30, 2024 at 06:03
- 4 min read
- By AFP Malaysia
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"Video of Israeli Special Commando Squad 'Golani Unit' rebelling in the camp because they did not agree to be deployed to the Gaza border by the illegal Israeli government," reads Malay-language text overlaid on a Facebook video shared on October 18, 2023.
"They are categorised as a 'Special Unit' BUT are still afraid to face the Al Qassam army," the text further says, referring to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
The video, which has 143,000 views, shows soldiers shouting, throwing barrels and upending tables.
The logo for Sky News Arabia is in the top-left corner and Arabic-language text is overlaid at various points in the clip (archived link).
The video racked up more than 299,000 views in similar posts on Facebook and TikTok following Hamas's surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also seized about 250 hostages, around 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless offensive that has killed more than 26,600 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
Some social media users appeared to believe the video showed Israeli troops rioting against deployment to fight in the war.
"They are afraid of being sent there so they went on a protest rampage," one TikTok user commented in Malay.
Another wrote: "Israeli soldiers are protesting because their units are camped on Gaza border... and they are scared they'll die".
However, the video was filmed before the war.
Training exercise
A keyword search in Arabic found the video posted on Sky News Arabia's official Facebook page, X and TikTok accounts on September 7, 2023 -- one month before the Hamas attack (archived links here, here and here).
The video's caption says it shows troops from the Golani Brigade at an Israeli military base during a training course.
Turkish broadcaster TRT World posted a shorter version of the video on X on September 9, 2023 (archived link).
"Leaked video shows Israeli soldiers rioting during Northern Command's Golani Brigade training session, where soldiers who carry out armed combat missions are trained," the caption says.
"Some of the soldiers were put in military jail but the reason for the riots is unknown."
Visual clues in the footage suggest it shows troops from Israel's Golani Brigade.
The brigade's yellow and green striped flag is visible at various points in the footage, while soldiers can be heard shouting "Come on!" in Hebrew (archived link).
Below is a photo of the Golani Brigade's flag on the Israel Defence Forces' website (left) and the flag seen in the video (centre and right).
Another keyword search in Hebrew found the video in Israeli media reports, which said the rioting erupted on September 4, 2023 during a physical training exercise.
According to Israeli news website Walla, the troops were taking part in a Krav Maga session -- referring to the self-defence method conceived by the Israeli army -- when they became caught "in the heat of the exercise" and began to riot and vandalise the military base (archived link).
Israeli online media Ynet quoted an Israel Defence Forces spokesman saying the chaos began during physical fitness training and that troops were subsequently disciplined (archived link).
"It is worth noting that this is not a protest of any kind by soldiers against the army, rather an attempt to motivate the soldiers to exercise, which in the heat of the moment turned into genuine riots," the Ynet report added.
AFP has debunked a slew of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war here.
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