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Pallywood, a portmanteau of "Palestine" and "Hollywood", is a disinformation campaign used to falsely accuse Palestinians for supposedly faking suffering and civilian deaths during their conflict with Israel.[1][2][3][4][5] The term came into currency following the killing of Muhammad al-Durrah in 2000 during the Second Intifada, involving a challenge to the veracity of photographic evidence.[6] Israeli pundits have used the term to dismiss videos showing Israeli violence or denial of Palestinian suffering.[3] During the Israel–Hamas war, it has been used to dismiss Palestinian suffering such as claiming dead Palestinian babies as fake dolls,[7][8][2] and is regarded by some news sources as a conspiracy theory.[2][8][9] The term and related disinformation has been used and circulated as a propaganda tool by official Israeli government profiles.[5]
| Origin/etymology | Portmanteau of "Palestine" and "Hollywood" |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Derogatory label used to describe supposed media manipulation by Palestinians |
| Context | Used in discussions related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict |
| Coined by | Richard Landes |
The term was coined and publicized in part by Richard Landes, as a result of a 2005 online documentary video he produced called Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources, alleging specific instances of media manipulation.[10][11] Journalist Ruthie Blum describes "Pallywood" as a term coined by Landes to refer to "productions staged by the Palestinians, in front of (and often with cooperation from) Western camera crews, for the purpose of promoting anti-Israel propaganda by disguising it as news." Landes himself describes Pallywood as "a term I coined... to describe staged material disguised as news."
In Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources,[12] Landes focuses in particular on the widely publicized killing of Muhammad al-Durrah, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by gunfire (widely reported to have been Israeli gunfire) in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada.[13] His death was filmed by a Palestinian freelance cameraman and aired on the France 2 television channel. Landes questions the authenticity of the footage and disputes whether al-Durrah was killed at all, arguing that the entire incident was staged by the Palestinians.[11] Landes and pro-Israel advocates argue that the Israeli government is insufficiently robust in countering Palestinian accounts of events in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[14]
Besides the killing of al-Durrah, Landes cites the Gaza beach blast and Hamas's alleged exploitation of electricity shortages during the 2007–2008 Israel–Gaza conflict, as incidents of Pallywood.[15]
David Frum alleged that pictures, taking during the 2014 Gaza War, showing two brothers, weeping and with the bloodied T-shirts after carrying the body of their dead father had been faked. The pictures, which were published by Reuters, The New York Times, and Associated Press, had been targeted for criticism by a pro-Israeli blogger.[16] Frum backtracked from his accusation, and apologized to NYT photographer Sergey Ponomarev, after extensive debunking by Michael Shaw, but justified his "skepticism", describing other "Pallywood" claims.[17]
After the death of two Palestinian teenagers in Beitunia, Michael Oren and an Israeli army spokesman argued the video from a security camera was manipulated and the teenagers had only pretended to be hit, a Pallywood view contradicted by both the videos themselves[opinion] and the official investigation which discovered misconduct by a Border Police officer, who was put on trial for his actions.[18][19][20]
Anat Berko, a research fellow with the conservative Israeli think-tank, International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, and Edna Erez, head of the criminal justice department of the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that "the phenomenon of manufacturing documentation about the conflict has been referred to as "Pallywood" (Palestinian Authority Hollywood)."[21][non-primary source needed] The Mackenzie Institute, a conservative Canadian defense and security think tank,[22] has argued that given "a long history of posing for the cameras... the cynical 'Pallywood' nickname from once-deceived journalists for [Palestinian Authority] news services becomes understandable."[23][non-primary source needed]
Israel–Hamas war
During the Israel–Hamas war, conspiracy theories involving online influencers mocking victims and claiming that Palestinians are using "crisis actors" went viral on social media, often citing the "Pallywood" term.[13][24] Israel's official Twitter account accused Gazans of placing live people in body bags before deleting the Tweet, while AIPAC promoted similar content.[13] Many of the most viral videos used to "prove" that crisis actors exist have been disproven.[13][25] The term often results in anti-Muslim hate speech and was especially popular after Israel announced plans to increase aerial bombardment of Gaza.[13]
In November 2023, Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman circulated a clip from a Lebanese short film, claiming that it was proof that Palestinians were faking videos and calling it an example of "Pallywood".[26][27]
Ruthie Blum says that Richard Landes's claims, which are considered quite severe, have led to him being labeled as a right-wing conspiracy theorist in certain circles.[15] Critics argue that Landes's language, which seemingly favors Israel, displays characteristics commonly associated with conspiracy theories.[28]
In 2014, Larry Derfner described Pallywood in +972 Magazine as "a particularly ugly ethnic slur".[29] In 2018, Eyal Weizman, whose work with Forensic Architecture has been called "Pallywood" in Israel, replied that "The bastards' last line of defence is to call it 'fake news'. The minute they revert to this argument is when they've lost all the others."[30] In an article published by Mondoweiss, Jonathan Cook argued that "Pallywood" was a convenient excuse used by Israelis to dismiss filmed evidence of brutality by their soldiers.[31]
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