Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) earlier this week reposted a digitally altered image falsely claiming to show a poll finding that Israelis believe soldiers should be allowed to rape Palestinians.
The fake image was condemned by users on X (formerly Twitter), including journalist Yashar Ali.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib retweeted the left’s tweet, which included a digitally altered image.
That wasn’t a poll question.
The poll question was: “Do you think the government has given in to terrorist supporters?”
Check out the screenshots to see the real results… pic.twitter.com/8QRLgvgHu8
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 8, 2024
Talib is post The report was by Noura Erakat, a pro-Palestinian lawyer and academic, who acknowledged the mistake but argued that the doctored images appeared credible because of reports of the rape of Palestinian detainees.
Rep. Tlaib trusted me, and it was a mistake on my part to post this without cross-checking it. But given the video of the gang rape of a Palestinian detainee and the Knesset and the public debate about whether such rape should be tolerated, it is understandable that some would take this poll to be true. And that’s shameful, Alex. https://t.co/H3tWWgnXQD
— Noura Erakat (@4noura) August 8, 2024
As Breitbart News reports, the story has caused great controversy in Israel. Doctors at Sde Teyman prison have expressed concern that Palestinian terrorism detainees may have been raped. When Israeli military investigators arrived to arrest the suspects, they were greeted by protesters who had broken into the prison.
It was later revealed that a different doctor had concluded that the Palestinian detainee’s injuries were not the result of rape, but were more likely to have been caused by an object the detainee had inserted into his rectum.
Supporters of the suspected soldiers, who are being held awaiting trial, claim the prisoners smuggled mobile phones into the detention facility.
In any case, the story has gone viral in the Arab world, in part because a video purportedly showing the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees was leaked by Israel’s Channel 12, though the video is grainy and inconclusive.
Some Israelis fear that the leaking of the video and the sharing of sensational allegations of rape and abuse that have not been proven in court could lead to further mistreatment of the dozens of Israeli hostages currently being held by Hamas.
update: Al Jazeera later published the same false poll.
BREAKING: Al Jazeera published the fabricated poll promoted by Rashida Tlaib yesterday.
Al Jazeera and its Qatari masters are the enemy. pic.twitter.com/Llf5puzbmN
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) August 8, 2024
The post was removed by the network and is no longer visible.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
