The Scene Is Comedic, Not for Palestinians Faking Their Deaths in the Ongoing Gaza War
The Claim
Edy Cohen claims that the Palestinians are faking their deaths.
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The Israeli activist, Edy Cohen, posted a video on his X account, claiming it depicted Palestinians faking their deaths during the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. The video clip, initially posted on TikTok on March 26, 2021, portrays a comedic clip by a group of TikTok influencers. It does not depict Palestinians faking their deaths during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Abo Araeed and Abo Rayan
The video depicts three Palestinians friends from the West Bank, namely Abo Araeed, Odai (Abo Rayan), and Abo Al-Layl. Laughter echoes from the audience in the video, as they chant praises for the martyrs, while Abo Araeed, Abo Rayan, and Abo Al-Layal playfully pretend to be martyrs. The video went viral in 2021 as a humorous clip, with laughing emojis in its description.
Abo Araeed and Abo Rayan, both affected by Down syndrome, are widely popular figures in Palestine and are warmly welcomed wherever they go.
The popularity of both individuals has multiplied in recent years as their funny videos have garnered tens of millions of views and millions of likes on the TikTok platform.
Frequent Allegations of Palestinians Faking Their Deaths
Since the commencement of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, numerous videos and images have circulated on social media platforms, claiming to depict Palestinians faking their deaths and injuries. These posts often include the hashtag #Pallywood, a blend of #Palestine and #Hollywood, implying that what is attributed to Israel as massacres against Palestinians are, in fact, staged performances.
Previously, Misbar published an article about an Israeli misinformation campaign that utilized old and selectively edited images and videos to cast doubt on the reality of what Palestinians are experiencing in the Gaza Strip.
On December 3, 2023, Misbar published a synthesized report on investigations regarding videos and images that circulated, claiming to depict dolls used to deceive people around the world into believing they were children's corpses. Misbar investigated those clips and concluded that they actually depicted the bodies of children killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 70% of the nearly 16,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza war were children and women.
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