On January 28, 2024, the anonymous Facebook account “Informational Analytical Union” published a post stating that the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately stop the bombing of Gaza and incitement to hatred against the Palestinians. In addition, Israel is obliged to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, not to destroy evidence for the Genocide Study Commission, and to show the court a report on the fulfillment of its obligations within one month. According to the author of the post, if Israel does not obey the court’s decisions, according to international law, it will be declared a criminal state. The Facebook account a photo to the post with the following description, “And in the photo you can see the condition of the IDP camps near the Egyptian border town of Rafah in Gaza after every rain.”
The claims voiced by the “Informational Analytical Union” are partly false. Nowhere in the court’s decision is it written that Israel is obliged to stop bombing Gaza. In addition, the photo attached to the post is generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
On January 26, the International Court of Justice made its initial ruling on the issue of the Israel-Hamas war. The court called on Israel to take all measures to prevent the genocide of the Palestinians. However, the Court did not order Israel to cease fire and hostilities against Hamas, which was one of the demands of the complaint against Israel.
In response to the Israeli army’s attack on the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by Hamas’ incursion into Israeli territory on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 240, South Africa filed a complaint against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing the state of genocide against the Palestinians. The ruling of January 26 was one part of this initiated case, within the framework of which the court imposed 6 obligations on Israel:
- The court ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope” of the U.N. convention on genocide. Referring to protecting Palestinian civilians, the court said Israel should work to prevent “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above.
- Israel “shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
- Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
- Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope” of the relevant articles in the genocide convention.
- Israel shall submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to this order within one month as from the date of this order.
Both sides tried to present the verdict as their own victory. Israel considered the court’s disregard of the cease-fire request to be the right decision and stated that it is a recognition of the country’s right to self-defense. The Palestinians, on the other hand, considered their victory the fact that the majority of the judges strongly criticized the Israeli military tactics, which have caused a large number of deaths and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
According to the mentioned ruling of the court, this process has not ended and it will probably continue for several years, because the detection and confirmation of the crime of genocide is a very difficult process, especially in the background of the current conflict. Additionally, it should be noted that although the court did not oblige Israel to cease fire, the full implementation of the judgment will be difficult without a temporary cessation of hostilities.
- The photo depicting Palestinian children has been generated by AI
The photo attached to the post, in which two children are lying in the mud in a tent, was generated by artificial intelligence. It is actively distributed on social networks, especially on X (formerly Twitter), as an authentic photo. However, if one looks closely, there are a few discrepancies that point to the use of artificial intelligence. For example, one of the children has only 4 toes, and we see 5 fingers on his hand, in which the thumb is not visible. Their ear shapes are also unnatural. This photo was also verified by the Palestinian fact-checking organization and labeled it as AI-generated. They also uploaded a real photo of children from an IDP tent, which was allegedly used to create a fake photo.
About the Source:
The anonymous Facebook account “Information Analytical Union” appeared in April 2022, and its first post can be traced back to April 12, 2022. According to the information on Facebook, the association was created in response to the one-sided discussion in the Georgian public space, and its main goal is to provide the population of Georgia with information that is of public interest, although it is not found in the mainstream media.
As of January 16, 2024, the “Information-Analytical Union” indicates the website infoanalitika.net on Facebook about us section, which is not functioning at the moment.
After the creation of the “Information-Analytical Union”, the majority of the posts published during the first few months were related to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The account repeated Kremlin narratives and claimed that Nazism in Ukraine was a big problem, encouraged by the West.
One of the posts related to Ukraine claims that Davit Arakhamia, the chairman of the ruling party of Ukraine said in an interview that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson forbade Ukraine to sign the peace negotiations with Russia. The mentioned manipulative information was verified by “Myth Detector”.
In addition to anti-Ukrainian claims, the “Information-Analytical Union” mainly publishes information of anti-Western and anti-Israel content and refers to the West as an imperialist entity. The “Information-Analytical Union” became particularly active after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Facebook account often conveys news on the mentioned topic unilaterally and manipulatively. Also, based on the content of the posts, it appears that the purpose of the account is to discredit the West and Western media.
The “Information-Analytical Union” spreads baseless accusations that the USA and the European Union are planning a coup in Georgia. In its posts, the account attacks Georgian non-governmental organizations and tries to create a negative perception of their activities.
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