Iran’s regime mobilized its media machine quickly after Hamas claimed an explosion at a hospital in Gaza had led to hundreds of deaths. It is now known, and widely accepted, that the claims of an “attack” or “strike” were disinformation spread by Hamas. It is also believed the number of casualties cited by Hamas was inflated. However, it is also clear that Iranian regime media worked hard to push this narrative in the region to inflame hatred.
Iran’s media was not the only one working this angle. In Turkey protests were also organized and incitement grew against Israel. It appears that this coordinated effort spanned the region, from Turkey to Iran, Qatar and also to Russia. The goal was to use the incident to increase tensions and to cause protests and escalation.
Wild comparisons and nonsensical conclusions
Two days later Iran’s regime continued to push this narrative. For instance on Thursday Iran’s Fars News claimed that incident at the hospital was similar to crimes committed by Saddam Hussein. This is a bizarre claim, considering the fact that Saddam’s regime was a major opponent of Israel and even fired missiles at Israel in 1991. However, Iran’s regime also opposed Saddam. So linking Israel to Iraq’s crimes in the 1980s is part of Tehran’s propaganda. Media in Iran also used images of children and graphic images to promote its claim that “1,000” people had been killed at the hospital. There is no evidence of this.
Tehran clearly believes that message discipline on this can influence the region. However, almost two days after the protests began in places in the region, it appears many countries now agree that the attack never happened in the way Hamas claimed it did.
Iran also tried to push antisemitic dog whistles in its coverage, calling Israel “demonic” and “bloodthirsty.” Tasnim media showed an image of US President Joe Biden visiting Israel and wearing a yarmulke. This is to try to illustrate the wider narrative from Tehran that portrays the US and Israel as one and the same. Iran has tried to fuel attacks on the US in Iraq and in Lebanon. It is part of a wider attempt to cause anger at the US and Israel. This worked on Wednesday when leaders cancelled meetings with Biden and also worked to fuel protests in Turkey.
Pro-Iranian media Al-Mayadeen also continued to have manipulative coverage on the hospital incident on Thursday. Clearly the media axis that links Iran to Hamas and Lebanon, Iraq and also other countries, planned to exploit this incident. The continued coverage, which has messaging that is linked to language used by Iran’s leaders, shows a an attempt to skew the regional reporting on the story.
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