The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” published a report by journalist Yaniv Kovovich revealing that the Israeli army is currently running, in violation of the law, a channel on “Telegram” called “72 Horiya – Without Censorship.”
Kovovich explained that the Israeli army unit responsible for psychological warfare operations runs a channel on Telegram called “72 Virgins – Uncensored,” targeting Israelis with “exclusive content from the Gaza Strip,” and displaying the bodies of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) fighters with the promise of “shattering the imagination.” “Terrorists.”
The channel, which prides itself on content “exclusively from the Gaza Strip” and has published more than 700 posts, photos and videos of Palestinians being killed and destroyed in the Strip, encourages its 5,300 followers to share the content so “everyone can see how we are destroying them.”
The army denies
The writer said that the Israeli army denies that it runs the channel, but a senior military official confirmed to Haaretz that the army is responsible for its operation. The official, who requested anonymity, said there is no reason for the army to launch influence campaigns against Israeli citizens, and the fact that soldiers run such a problematic page is “terrible.”
The channel was established on the ninth of last October, two days after the start of the war, under the name “The Avengers,” and the next day the name was changed to “Azazel for Gaza,” echoing the Hebrew pronunciation of “Gaza” and the word to hell, then “72 Virgins.” -Uncensored”.
Last October 11, the channel posted a message saying the following: “We will burn their mothers… You will not believe the video we got! You can hear their bones breaking. We will upload it immediately, get ready.”
Share this beauty
Pictures of Palestinian prisoners and their bodies were captioned: “Exterminating cockroaches… Exterminating Hamas’ rats… Share this beauty.” The text is accompanied by a video of an Israeli soldier allegedly dipping machine gun bullets in lard: “What a man!!!! He lubricates the bullets with lard. You won’t get your virgins.” And “Garbage juice!!!! Another terrorist is dead!! You have to watch it with sound, you will die laughing.”
Every night, the channel publishes a daily summary that includes several IDF updates on activity in Gaza, with promises of exclusive photos and videos. “As always, we are the first to bring you information from the field,” she says. “We have crazy recordings of terrorists, how can we put them down. We have documents that no one has. We are preparing much more than that!!!”
Last October 14, alongside the caption, “Exclusive video, good night, don’t forget to share and repost,” was a video of an Israeli car repeatedly driving over the body of a Palestinian. “Very good, Gershon!!! He ran him over, he ran over him!!!! Damn the bastards! Run them down,” the accompanying post said.
Not the first time
The writer commented that this is not the first time that an Israeli army psychological warfare operation targeting an Israeli public has been revealed. This year, Haaretz revealed that during the 2021 war in the Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit launched a deceptive campaign against Israeli citizens aimed at “raising awareness” of IDF attacks and their “cost” on Palestinians.
The army posted pictures on fake social media accounts of the widespread destruction in the Strip, and called on its followers to participate “so that they know that we are taking a lot of revenge.” Officials in the Spokesperson’s Unit admitted, after the operation was revealed, that they “made a mistake.”
The report stated that for years the Israeli military has used psychological warfare against Israel’s enemies in an attempt to undermine their narratives, influence populations (including in the Gaza Strip, Iran, and Lebanon) and promote its successes. These campaigns are conducted secretly, using fake accounts, without leaving evidence of the army’s involvement. However, the law prohibits the Israeli military from using these capabilities against Israelis.
