The Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman was flamed on Thursday after he tried to pass off behind-the-scenes footage from a Lebanese short film as proof that Palestinians were faking injuries sustained in Israel’s month-long barrage of airstrikes in Gaza.
Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posted the misleading clip on social media around noon on Thursday. It remained online and unedited by 10 p.m. local time, despite a Twitter community note, hundreds of commenters, a BBC report, and the film’s director confirming the post was a fake.
In the post, Gendelman shared a video that supposedly proved Palestinians were faking injuries, death, and destruction on camera to garner international support. As he’s done previously, he included the word “Pallywood” to describe what he implied were injuries and evacuations staged to make Israel look bad.