Turin, 22 July (LaPresse) – The Israeli army has announced that it has identified twelve footballers as “members of terrorist organisations” who were killed in the Gaza Strip during the war. “Following an intelligence investigation, it is now possible to reveal the terrorists’ organisational affiliations and their roles, despite the fact that in many cases they were presented to the world solely as footballers, with no mention of their affiliation with terrorist organisations,” stated the Israel Defence Forces, listing the identities of the 12. According to the army, a “false campaign portraying the IDF as deliberately hostile towards members of the football community was conducted as part of a broader effort promoted by various actors against the State of Israel, and runs alongside other false narratives circulated during the war”. “In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and neutralised by the IDF were portrayed as journalists, aid workers and other civilian professionals, whilst their involvement in terrorist activities was deliberately concealed to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions,” the Israeli military stated.
Middle East, IDF: ‘12 footballers killed in Gaza had links to terrorism’
Turin, 22 July (LaPresse) – The Israeli army has announced that it has identified twelve footballers as “members of terrorist organisations” who were killed in the Gaza Strip during the war. “Following an intelligence investigation, it is now possible to reveal the terrorists’ organisational affiliations and their roles, despite the fact that in many cases they were presented to the world solely as footballers, with no mention of their affiliation with terrorist organisations,” stated the Israel Defence Forces, listing the identities of the 12. According to the army, a “false campaign portraying the IDF as deliberately hostile towards members of the football community was conducted as part of a broader effort promoted by various actors against the State of Israel, and runs alongside other false narratives circulated during the war”. “In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and neutralised by the IDF were portrayed as journalists, aid workers and other civilian professionals, whilst their involvement in terrorist activities was deliberately concealed to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions,” the Israeli military stated.
