The X Lie That Travelled the World
No the Grand Mufti of Dubai and the Grand Mufti Saudi Arabia didn’t say that stuff Hasbara influencers attributed to them about the Hamas hostage debacle & Islam
Last week a couple pro Israel accounts made a couple wild claim in X (formerly Twitter) posts and they went viral. Incredibly, many people, including myself for a few hours, totally bought that story.
Why? How?
In the throes of chaos, when emotions fly at the speed of light, confirmation bias gets in the way. It’s easy to push that RT button and become a part of the problem not the solution in the heat of the moment. When I called it out as fake news here on Substack Notes, I met with vehement denial. When I asked my interlocutor for corroboration, I received links to stories that reference X (formerly Twitter) posts. The Times of Israel Blogs ran a story about Muslims decrying the barbaric and cruel behaviour of Hamas vis a vis the release of Israeli captives, and it gave the X posts as the source for the quotes attributed to the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. Later that evening I decided to check out the story and found an Arabic language fact-checking site called Misbar. Wesam Abo Marq debunked the story in his own investigation, I recommend reading his analysis. Daniel Greenfield posted a thread on X debunking the claims and wrote an article on his website, here.
This is the earliest post from that day I could find about the quote attributed to Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. No independent corroborating evidence exists, to support the claim this post makes and the individual behind the account did not give any primary source for the claim she makes in her post. When asked where’s this from the person running the X account replies it's on several news sites quoting him directly. She never gives a legitimate source to prove her claim that a Grand Mufti made what would be for him a significant statement. Arsen Orstrevsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum replied to the tweet, Unfortunately this is fake news. The Mufti would never say this. And he hasn't.
An independent fact checker on X named Luís Galrão archived the earliest instances of the stories about the Grand Mufti’s quote. I verified the source, screenshot below. The account is run anonymously with no outside link or information about who the account owner is. A cursory google search reveals an website called Israel News Pulse. A search for ‘Grand Mufti’ turns up nothing on the actual site itself. The rumour began with the Israel Pulse News X account and the tweet post below.
Orstevsky is correct, the Grand Mufti never said that. If he did say that, it would be a big deal. Multiple outlets or a wire service would carry such a thing. You can see the official statements Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh in the screenshot below, from the official website. The Saudi Gazette reported nothing about any statements condemning Hamas made by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, as Israel News Pulse claimed he did.
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh did not publicly condemn Hamas. Debunked as FAKE NEWS.
Let’s move on to the second Hasbara propaganda item on the menu, the quote attributed to the Grand Mufti of Dubai, Dr. Ahmed al-Haddad.
Robert Spencer takes the tweets with a grain of salt, he doubts their veracity, noting they have no legitimate primary source for the quotes. Galrão corroborates my finding that identifies Dr Maalouf as the source of the story about Grand Mufti of Dubai Dr. Ahmed al-Haddad saying Hamas brought shame to Islam. You can find the official website of department the Grand Mufti is said to head here, his image is not anywhere in the organisational chart provided, the last story featuring him saying a thing is 2019. A search reveals no statement to the effect attributed in Maalouf’s tweet. His Imminence is a member of the Fatwa Council of the UAE, website here.
The Grand Mufti of Dubai Sheikh Ahmed al-Haddad did not publicly condemn Hamas. Debunked as FAKE NEWS.
No evidence exists to support Maalouf’s claims. It’s unlikely the Grand Mufti Al-Haddad would say the things attributed to him. It’s not something he would say, given the delicacy of the situation and the geopolitical tensions involved. It’s simply not the way politics happens in Arab gulf countries like UAE or KSA. I checked the following new outlets for any story about Grand Mufti and I checked Grand Mufti + Hamas and I checked the relevant sections for news about the debacle hostage handover with the switched unidentified female corpse — a search of Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Monitor, Al-Arabiya, Arab News, revealed no story to corroborate the claims made on X by Hasbara influencer account holders.
Between the two influencers who started the rumours, Israel News Pulse and Dr Maalouf, 3 million people worldwide saw a propaganda story masquerading as news. Several other big accounts with a large following shared the propaganda. I myself fell prey for a few hours, despite my nagging suspicion and gut sense that it felt like horsesh1t. Confirmation bias combined with intense outrage about a geopolitical situation on a platform like X (formerly Twitter) compromises critical thinking and obstruct an individual’s ability to parse fact from fiction. The Times of Israel Blogs published it, even. NY Post published it, sourcing JFeeds, which sourced X (formerly Twitter) and itself. That’s a pretty significant journalistic and editorial failure to do fact basic checking due diligence.
Confirmation bias is powerful and also not your friend, or mine!
Who is Dr. Maalouf, beyond some self declared Lebanese American scholar who supports Israel? It’s difficult to tell. He’s got a Ko-fi site where you can give him money though. Who is Israel Pulse News? Good question. I don’t know, beyond some faceless nameless entity who registered a website in the USA and has an account on X (formerly Twitter). Beyond that it’s difficult to tell. You can see the Whois information below. The site provides no TOS where any company or entity and contact information therefore are listed. It’s a quite suspect, red flag city. There’s no way to hold anonymous accountable for their sketchy reportage and information dissemination practices. Who is Jfeeds? Good question, uncertain. TOS reveal nothing about who runs this site, except domain registration indicates it’s an Israel based website. Same deal as Israel Pulse News, anonymous, nameless and faceless.
So, that’s the story — there was no story to begin with, a couple chaos makers made up some sh1t to stir the pot and did some engagement farming, exploited a volatile situation, and it worked. May we be more savvy with our information consumption. May we put things into our minds with the same diligence and care we put things into our mouth and gut. May we take greater care to pause and think and ask questions when we doubt.
The truth can barely tie its shoes by the time a lie has travelled around the world several times. Please do your part to combat propaganda by spreading facts you’ve verified and by taking steps to correct your own consumption habits. You can help by sharing this article widely to help the truth catch up to the ridiculous lie when you encounter the claim that even the Grand Muftis of Saudi Arabia and Dubai called out Hamas etc etc in your online travails and discourse. Thanks.