No, Hamas did not decapitate babies.

Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who returned to power in 2009 after a long hiatus, have been engaged in information terrorism across the world - a mini-war within the larger war in which Israel has been pummeling the opposition.

A week ago, most of the world was in agreement in their distrust of Netanyahu. As one of the most far-right world leaders, Netanyahu has waged open war on Israel’s democratic institutions.

From the corruption charges to ruthless and criminal treatment of Arabs, contempt for Netanyahu — in Israel and beyond — came only after years of slowly gaining access to Palestine to finally document the conditions there.

I am not going to get into the full history of what is happening in the war, the establishment of Israel, their illegal occupation of territories, attacks by terrorists and militant groups over the years, etc . There are people far more informed about that than me. 

Emotions are understandably high right now, and the online reactions are swift and often belligerent (quite like this 2014 clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart).

When people are cheering the murder of children, the bombing of hospitals, the taking of hostages, the brutality of war, then there is no reasoning, even with those who are normally reasonable. Add to that the religious elements and you end up with hatred and irrationality.

Disinformation fans those flames - and make no mistake that disinformation right now on social media is both prolific and rather convincing. 

Independent reporting is a must, but Israel is not allowing journalists into Gaza to survey the damage or report the truth. That’s a big red flag. 

Journalists have quite literally been risking their lives by reporting from the front lines, but the IDF won’t let them into Gaza. Consequently, the only reporters you’re seeing on major networks are inside Israel, reporting on the tragedies in Israel, reporting from the Israeli perspective. 

Israel has also engaged in war crimes by imprisoning the two million people who live there, cutting off all water and electricity to the Palestinians, and establishing embargos to keep aid and resources from reaching civilians. 

The stories being circulated right now are extremely one-sided and often times (as you’ll see below) false.

Be skeptical of everything you read. Netanyahu and the IDF are no more trustworthy than Putin. Same goes for Hamas.

If the only source we have to show the war as it plays out in Gaza is social media, there is naturally a lot of distrust in what we’re seeing.

The propaganda: “Decapitated babies”

Jim Stewartson has done a great job researching how traumatic imagery is weaponized to indoctrinate people by manipulating our most basic instincts, like protecting children. That’s how QAnon gained such a foothold in America - by pretending they were protecting children from blood-drinking vampire celebrity cults hiding in the basement of pizza parlors. 

As if the brutality of the militant attack on Israeli citizens wasn’t horrific enough, rumors of “decapitated babies” began to spread online.

The story about Hamas decapitating babies was widely shared by huge influencers online, elected officials, actors, etc. My son even heard this rumor at school.