One of the narratives propagated by Israel's supporters during the conflict against Hamas is that of so-called Pallywood, where Palestinians are accused of staging various tragedies to raise public opinion in their favor. There is another variation, called Gazawood, mentioned in a video shared by Italian Facebook page Progetto Dreyfus, where the scene of an injured child is deemed unrealistic. The clip does not concern the current conflict and was not made during the filming of a fake video intended to be broadcast as real for propaganda purposes.
For those in a hurry
- The clip dates from 2022 and was posted on TikTok by a Palestinian photographer to talk about his work.
- The filming concerns an advertisement from the Palestinian Civil Protection, published on March 1, 2022 on Facebook.
Analyzes
Let's read what is reported in the post on the Dreyfus Project page which accompanies the video:
Pallywood and the cake gone bad
Pallywood technical tests. The first one didn't go well, the director was merciless: “Not like that, get off.” You don't know what a bomb does…drop. Why did you put it on the table? You don't know what a bomb does… How a table can support all that weight…” Despite countless filmed evidence, the news released by the Hamas Ministry of Health continues to be considered good : 35,000 dead, half of them children…
The video was also shared via Twitter/
This is not the so-called “Pallywood”, it's an advert from 2022
As verified by Bara'a O. Al-Ma'any, the video was posted on TikTok in 2022 by the account of Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Maher Zaqout (@m_zaqout):
On March 1, 2022, the Facebook page of the Palestinian Civil Protection published an advertisement presenting the same scenography and the same child protagonist.
Conclusions
The video does not prove the existence of a “Gazawood” and the child filmed is not an actor playing a victim of the current conflict in Gaza. The clip concerns the filming of a 2022 Palestinian Civil Protection advertisement, published on the latter's Facebook page.
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