A recent scene from a report on U.S. Fox News has spread showing the channel falling into a trap of fabricating the arrest of a Hamas member.
The publishers indicated that the report shows at the beginning, a big group of the army leading a semi-naked, blindfolded man, then the same person appears in a different scene immediately after that one, fully clothed and without handcuffs or guards, while the occupation military members were trying to remove the camera.
Does the Scene Actually Show the Arrest of a Hamas Member?
Misbar investigated the origin of the video and found out that it was published by Fox News Channel on October 13. The video depicts the Israel Occupation Forces arresting a young Palestinian who was blindfolded during the live coverage of the channel, documenting a search operation by the occupation at the location of Nova Music Festival, in which resources mentioned that 260 people were killed at that location during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The video shows soldiers arresting a naked man before blindfolding and leading him.
Another scene shows the arrested man, holding his pants, and soldiers are near him trying to keep photographers away.
Trey Yingst, the channel's correspondent, explained that the Israeli military commander informed him that the person who was arrested was a member of the Palestinian resistance who had entered from Gaza.
The sequence of scenes published by the channel raised doubts about the report's credibility. Users said that it was a fabricated scene and not a real one, but the Fox News correspondent shared a post and a video on his Instagram account, confirming that this video is the “Original one that was shot by the channel’s camera.”
Yingst clarified that the man in the video is not an "actor." He added, "You can see the man who was arrested take his clothes off, before he is taken into custody. The truth is important."
According to the clip shared by the reporter, a man appears to take off his trousers at a distance from the occupation forces before being arrested, blindfolded, and taken away.
By close examination, Misbar did not notice any cuts, unlike the first report which was published by the channel, it appears that the scenes were rearranged in the report.
Means of Media Cover Events, and Variation in Coverage Elements
Misbar noticed the extensive coverage of the arrest, as the occupation forces invited many correspondents from foreign media to the festival site.
Additionally, it compared the media coverage of the operation by several outlets to what was published by Fox News, it turns out there are some differences in narrating the events.
Press Coverage Did Not Mention the Man’s Identity
Pictures by the Getty Agency documented the arrest of the man in the Fox News report but without mentioning his identity, unlike the correspondent of the channel who immediately said that the man was Palestinian. Photographer Leon Neil said in a description with photos of the operation, “The man was ordered to take his clothes off before being arrested after finding him at the location of the Super Nova Music Festival, after a shooting incident, while Israeli soldiers kept looking for IDs and belongings between cars and tents.”
On another side, Aris Messinis said in photos he took for France Press and disseminated to Getty that they were for “Israeli soldiers arresting a man during patrolling near Kibbutz Be'eri, located in southern on October 12, 2023.”
NBC News reported that when the man in a white shirt entered the site, soldiers approached him, pointing their guns, fearing a potential bomb; they yelled at him to sit down and take off his clothes, and when he spoke in Arabic, they shot fire in the air as he was taking off his clothes, before they took him away.”
Sky News and Associated Press Said That the Man Was Holding a Knife
The Sky News reporter said in an article during the operation's coverage that “a suspected Hamas militant has appeared" while the Israeli Army was combing the site, and “He was brandishing a knife.”
The reporter stated that machine guns were pointed toward the man and he was ordered to take his clothes off due to concerns about a possible explosive vest. He added, “Once he took off his clothes, he was thrown on the ground, blindfolded, and with his hands were tied, while others took defensive positions to protect their colleagues at the possibility of having more Hamas fighters hiding nearby.”
Associated Press (AP) published photos of the same incident, saying that it was for Israeli soldiers surrounding a Palestinian man who attacked the festival site with a knife near the border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday, October 12, 2023.
However, by close examination of Misbar to the spread reports, it turned out that none of the photos showed a knife in the man’s hands, nor were there any attack motivations towards the soldiers. The photos and video clips showed him on the ground taking off his clothes before he was arrested and taken away.
The news reports have not mentioned any other details about the man, some indicated that he spoke in Arabic but with no evidence to support this claim. It was not documented in the video clips or photos how he entered the site, especially it coincided with a military operation conducted by the Israeli Army five days after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and after the occupation forces had combed the area before October 12.
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