A member of the palestinian rap group DAM posted the following “selfie” on social media.
Notice the number of retweets. And on Facebook it has been shared over 160 times and ‘Liked’ over 3,600 times at the time of this post.
Here’s a sample of the ensuing reactions:
https://twitter.com/WaisBashir/status/562386400101027840
https://twitter.com/KingJohnLove/status/562420382805008385
https://twitter.com/AbuJafar51/status/562432397711376384
https://twitter.com/AD_ChiTown/status/562438774928310274
https://twitter.com/hannahgais/status/562488279745183744
There’s just one problem. It’s fake.
The first clue were the uniforms – including sneakers – which are most definitely not IDF issue. Plus the pose of the “soldier” on the right looked distinctly fake.
Then I checked further and saw I was not the first to notice. In fact, Buzzfeed already covered it.
An associate of the band has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the photo was staged, but did not want to be quoted on record as they’ve enjoyed watching the reaction the photo is generating online.
The question is, how many people seeing the photo and sharing it will bother to check up on its authenticity? After all, most of those sharing it want to believe the lies it represents.
Update: According to Israeli site Walla, the “selfie” is taken from a new film about the rapper’s life (hat tip: Gidon).
The point still remains that he posted it as a true selfie and then sat back and watched the reactions.
Update: The rapper tweets:
