Hamas Issues False Information About Its Own Successes Fighting Israel

By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Hamas disinformation: Israel's international airport closed, planes redirected to secret base

On the fifth day of Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense that targets terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and which has successfully destroyed many Hamas rocket launching points, Hamas issued false information about its own successes fighting Israel. [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Today, a news ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV incorrectly claimed: "Media of the enemy: International airport Ben Gurion closed, planes being redirected to a secret base in the north [of Israel]."

Similarly, the Hamas website Al-Risala falsely claimed yesterday that Hamas had succeeded in shooting down an Israeli F-16 plane:

"Hamas' military wing Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that an 'Israeli' F-16 fighter plane was shot down... A reconnaissance aircraft was shot down as well." -[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

Likewise, on Thursday, when Israel launched the operation, Hamas immediately set out to create an illusion of its own success by reporting on TV and on a Hamas website that one of its missiles had hit Tel Aviv, falsely claiming that it had cut off electricity in the city:

"Al-Qassam Brigades shelled Tel Aviv for the first time with a locally made rocket. The electricity network in the southern part of the city was hit."

The following are the articles from the

Al-Risala website:

"Hamas' military wing Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that an 'Israeli' F-16 fighter plane was shot down in the Al-Wusta Governorate. A reconnaissance aircraft was shot down as well. Abu Ubeida [the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades' spokesperson] said that the resistance and the Al-Qassam Brigades are doing well, and the occupation's claim that the power of the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed is merely a lie. He described the Iron Dome (Israeli system that can intercept and destroy missiles in the air), which was built by the occupation and which costs it millions in order to intercept Palestinian rockets, as the 'Paper Dome.'"
[Al-Risalawebsite (Hamas), Nov. 17, 2012]

"Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, officially announced that occupied Tal Al-Rabia ("Tal Al-Rabia" is the Palestinians' Arabic translation of Tel Aviv, to wrongly imply the existence of an Arab village of that name prior to Tel Aviv - Ed. ) was shelled with an improved Fajr-5 rocket on Thursday morning. Yesterday, Al-Qassam [Brigades] stated that Tal Al-Rabia was shelled with a locally made rocket. They emphasized in an announcement that what comes next will be worse. Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) media sources said that the rocket cut off electricity in 'Tel Aviv,' which is 70 kilometers from Gaza." [Al-Risala website (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

*News ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, broadcast on Nov. 18, 2012:* "Media of the enemy: International airport Ben Gurion closed, planes being redirected to a secret base in the north [of Israel]." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

News ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, broadcast on Nov. 15, 2012: "Al-Qassam Brigades shelled Tel Aviv for the first time with a locally made rocket. The electricity network in the southern part of the city was hit." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari