Before we revisit the social stumbling blocks of Rula Jebreal and Selvaggia Lucarelli’s final hours, we must take a step back and rewind the tape. We have to start with the year 2006 and the philosopher Judith Butler, feminist scholar, expert on gender issues and spearhead of American “woke” thought. Here is what Butler said seventeen years ago during a conference at the University of Berkeley: “Hamas and Hezbollah are progressive social movements, an integral part of the global left.” A connection between certain fringe groups of the radical left and Islamic fundamentalism that is more relevant today than ever is.
An attitude that leads to the spread of unconfirmed and fake news, even among journalists who are always mindful of the ethics of others. Take the case of Jebreal, a Palestinian journalist and writer with Israeli and Italian citizenship, a well-known face on Italian television and very well known in the United States. The activist attacks Israel on television and from his very popular profile And so it happens that the defender of correctness, always ready to criticize her colleagues, especially when they have different ideas than her, stumbles upon a real fraud.
On Friday, Jebreal shared a video showing Israeli citizens singing chants calling for the destruction of Gaza. Then she comments indignantly: “Israeli right-wing fanatics celebrate the bloodbath in Gaza and cheer about the killing of 4,000 Palestinian children.” Adding fuel to the fire against anti-Semitism. Except the video is from 2015. A montage of footage shot eight years ago during a demonstration by a small far-right group against intermarriage. But the worst thing is that the video was taken from the profile of Matteo Cocchi, a neo-fascist user who tweets quotes from Adolf Hitler. And then there is Lucarelli, commentator and signatory of the Fatto Quotidiano.
In her eagerness to attack Israel, she also releases another clip showing dead civilians on a street. Then he writes: “They look like Bucha’s pictures.” But I see less pity. The source of the video claims that the Israeli army was responsible for the massacre. Other users blame Hamas. Lucarelli then backtracks and states that he doesn’t know who committed the crime. It would certainly have been appropriate to avoid distributing an unverified video. But it’s all on social media. And very young TikTokers with tens of thousands of followers, who are also invited by national television, get into raptures and compare Palestine and Hamas to the resistance against Nazi fascism. There is also no shortage of people upset about rocket fires from Gaza against Israeli civilians. Hatred against Israel is viral and fueled by false reports.