Press agencies like AP and Reuters generate thousands of such pictures shot by stringers and journalists for money - £500 plus if used. Picture editors take their pick for the most impact. Nothing is about truth, just making money
A salutary message. I do believe there has never been more propaganda doing the rounds than there is at present. We need to sharpen our senses to recognise it.
It's not just still images, but video as well. A real video of, say, a politician is easily manipulated with modern software and AI to make him or her look shifty or stressed. Just small 'adjustments'. The possibilities are sinister.
About 15 years ago, and long before I read about nudge units (courtesy of your excellent book) I saw a demonstration in America. I don't remember which politician it was, but a video of his speech was tweaked by making him blink more often than he actually did. That minor tweak completely changed his otherwise normal upbeat speech. He looked stressed and so shifty. A big turn off. Unlike a lot of AI, which can be detected, something like that undetectable 'tweak' would be very sinister indeed.
The issue is how long before governments move beyond nudge and censorship? There are many bad actors pushing manipulative video via social medai - support for Hamas being the current source of deluge - but I fear it will not be long before state actors resort to it. Censorship, here via the Online Safety Act, but through even more stringent measure in the EU, is the response du jour to the elites failing legitimacy. Their desire to cling to power, which is all that really motivates them, will move beyond cancelling elections (Romania) or lawfare attacks on populist politicians, and may well take them down a very dark road. The BBC are not there yet (one hopes) nor are the legacy media that include video reports, but can we really rule out that one day they ....?
Images can manipulate us in subtle ways. In the 1960 US presidential election, most people who listened to the candidate debate on the radio thought that Richard Nixon had won, but those who watched it on TV thought John F. Kennedy had won. At least part of the reason is that on TV Nixon was sweating heavily in the heat of the studio (at least partly due to Kennedy asking for it to be warm, knowing Nixon sweated a lot), was visibly uncomfortable from a minor injury and wore a suit the colour of which blended disconcertingly into the backdrop, all of which were off-putting to viewers, but not listeners.
What about the picture of the aid stretched out across northern Gaza that the UN is refusing to distribute even after the IDF offered to help? That says it all.
If an image like that is on MSM then it is Pallywood. MSM media lie comprehensively about the war in Gaza. Are the Russians expected to feed the Ukraine? Does Sudan feed South Sudan? The Jewish state is held to a much higher standard than anyone else.
So true, Laura. We must question every image coming out of a warzone. Considering that there were Hamas-linked journalists actually present, recording the entry through Israel's fences on October 7th 2023, I believe nothing which comes from Hamas.
In contrast, our leaders appear to believe everything, without question.
Pallywood. Best term for it ever. Staged scenes of suffering and civilian deaths. They've been doing it a long time. The term "crisis actors" underlays Pallywood. The existence of which had been conclusively proven 15-20 years ago in undoctored video evidence. Internet search for the term was full of evidence. But something changed in the past 5-10 years in internet searches. Even just 3-4 years ago when I searched the term most of the returns were confirmed evidence. Now the term has been reengineered by the propagandists to be a "derogatory term." Conspiracy theory, disinformation. Now if you search the internet you'll find different renditions of what Wikipedia describes it as:
"Pallywood (a portmanteau of "Palestine" and "Hollywood") is a derogatory term used to falsely accuse Palestinians of staging scenes of suffering and civilian death in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[6] It has been described as a conspiracy theory and a prominent element of Israeli disinformation in the conflict."
Staged scene or conspiracy theory false accusation? You decide:
To find the real evidence of and background of Pallywood you've got to find a decent search engine that even allows any returns exposing the fraudulent presentation of suffering, death. And that's going 5-10 pages deep in searches. And any stories listed since 2023 are nothing but propaganda that attacks the very concept of Pallywood as hateful. They really don't want the truth to come out about the fake images. Whenever they resort to "derogatory terms," "falsely accuse," "conspiracy theory," "disinformation" you know you're in the middle of a propaganda campaign trying to make truth-seeking a dangerous, dirty thing to do. Do it anyways. And you'll find the evidence. As presented in this series of links. Just have to go back far enough before the official state censors and propagandists took on the subject:
Anyone remember the stories from childhood about Pinocchio or The Boy Who Cried Wolf? When you get a reputation for lying people stop believing you. And the reputation of Pallywood that precedes October 7, 2023 is that of liars. Whatever suffering is happening there is terrible, what happens to pawns in geopolitical war games. Like in Ukraine and Russia. And every other war zone in the world. That nobody seems to care much about. But, by gosh, they care about Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza!
Fess up to the lies of the past two decades! Speak up about the human suffering in Ukraine - that the US/UK/EU funds, the "good war" against big, bad Putin that the US/UK/EU started. And the war zones, human suffering in Yemen, Somalia, Congo, all over Africa. In Pakistan/Indian war zones. Inside Syria. Inside Haiti. Cambodia-Thailand. All of the conflicts that lead to human suffering. Then maybe more people will begin to care and believe what you have to say. Until then, most of us will know the complainers are simply devotees of the Pallywood film and media genre of theater.
Well reasoned and presented. We should always ask why, as Socrates said, "why, why, why?" And not stop asking and seeking the answers. Too much is accepted as truth at face value and not questioned. One of the perennial problems of a high openness and high trust society is the ability to manipulate and abuse that trust and openness. We are seeing the results of such long-term and systemic abuse play out before our eyes in horrifying and traumatising technicolour...
Of course out-of-context and manipulated images not only mislead, but undermine the very cause they set out to promote.
However, the significance of two tabloid newspapers publishing such images goes way beyond their actual context - it reflects a massive shift in opinion in the UK as regards Israel (including in Parliament) and - finally - a recognition that Israel is undeniably seeking to eradicate the entire population of Gaza through repeated displacement, bombing and starvation. Because these images have not emerged from a vacuum: Israel (including its citizens) is visibly and deliberately blocking the entry of aid, mismanaging the distribution of what is allowed in (by having its proxies shoot at people trying to access it). Ludicrously, Zionist trolls are still suggesting “But Hamas (it’s always “But Hamas….”) are stealing the food”. So what is Hamas doing with the food? They can’t export it. Eating it all, hundreds of tonnes? Or selling it to the people for profit? If they were selling it, the people would be broke but not starving.
According to a survey in Ha’aretz last week, 47% of respondents in Israel are in favour of “killing every man, woman and child when we invade a city”, just as the Israelites did with Jericho. A young female Israeli demonstrator was filmed this week explaining that “starving their offspring will prevent them from reproducing in the future”. This is the reality of the Zionist project.
Your position on this is beginning to look distinctly vile, Laura Dodsworth. Genocide denialism is not a good look.
"If they were selling it, the people would be broke but not starving." What if they have no money to buy the food off Hamas? Apart from which - do you believe EVERYTHING you read? Do you understand what propaganda is? If it weren't believable on some level - and Laura has pointed out some details which would make an unbiased person pause - it wouldn't be propaganda would it?
Of course I don’t believe everything I read. Let’s assume that ALL the information coming out of Gaza is Hamas- generated or controlled and therefore unreliable. The Israelis themselves, both government and civilians, are doing a fine job of condemning themselves by their words and actions. The events of 7 October have laid bare their desire to eradicate the Palestinians to the last infant. This is Israel’s Final Solution for its “Palestinian Problem”. If an Israeli journalist like Gideon Levi tells Piers Morgan “only the Nazis were proud of mass killing and genocide…”, and Norman Finkelstein compares the enticing of Palestinians to collect food aid and their subsequent murder to the Jews being led to the showers at Auschwitz, then we know where we stand and we don’t need any of Hamas’ propaganda, do we?
Hamas is stealing food. If you want to see starvation in Gaza look at the pictures of the hostages. That picture was taken in Yemen. Real starvation is happening in the Sudan with Iran’s help.
Also, why mention Sudan and Iran? That is “Whataboutery” typical of the Israeli government trying to deflect attention from its own crimes and a tactic beloved by Vladimir Putin.
If you really still believe that there is no starvation in Gaza, I suggest you watch this. Starvation of a people is a protracted process that harms a minority at first, then spreads to the rest of the population.
The photo you are referring to, circulated on the internet purportedly of a child in Gaza, was of a boy with cerebral palsy taken in Yemen in 2020, not the one published by UK newspapers this week. In my first comment above, I agreed that posting false images undermines the cause they are trying to promote.
The photograph referred to by Laura Dodsworth in her post was taken recently by photographer Ahmed Al-Arini in Gaza city. He was interviewed by the BBC:
Many cases of infant starvation and death in Gaza have so far been the result of a medical complication that would easily have been prevented if basic baby formula and medication were available. Such as Siwar Ashour (see Guardian article). This is still starvation. The IDF has systematically destroyed the health system, hospital by hospital (there were 36 hospitals in Gaza) and more importantly imprisoning and murdering Palestinian doctors and health workers so that even if the hospitals are rebuilt and reequipped there will be no one to run them (see Channel 4 documentary Doctors in Gaza).
Hidin' in plain sight... few see this stuff... the "genocide-printed tablecloth" seems ta cover quite the feast... sure, not fer everybuddy... but... there is CAUSE ta pause...
I had watched it. I just don't understand it, it raises more questions than it answers, most especially, why is her son emaciated and she looks adequately fed and healthy?
If you were at all minded to look at this objectively you might have come to the conclusion that babies need regular and specialist food during their first few months of life, and that whilst grass and hay can keep an adult human functioning it won't do for a baby. You didn't think that though. You were just concerned about the power of the photograph.
Everyone knows about the allies in WWII dropping food supplies on Germany to insure that the children of the Nazis didn’t go hungry right? Neither do I.
Are we forced to accept these images as true. Or do we make a free independent choice to believe they are true?
In the final analysis it is 'me' who chooses. No power can manipulate me, nudge me or exploit me.
I choose to believe the story I want to believe.
So your article is curious in that it does not ask about this observed fact. And implies by some magic, that Power reaches inside our minds and flicks a switch, against our will.
Press agencies like AP and Reuters generate thousands of such pictures shot by stringers and journalists for money - £500 plus if used. Picture editors take their pick for the most impact. Nothing is about truth, just making money
A salutary message. I do believe there has never been more propaganda doing the rounds than there is at present. We need to sharpen our senses to recognise it.
It's not just still images, but video as well. A real video of, say, a politician is easily manipulated with modern software and AI to make him or her look shifty or stressed. Just small 'adjustments'. The possibilities are sinister.
Absolutely. Video has a more powerful effect.
About 15 years ago, and long before I read about nudge units (courtesy of your excellent book) I saw a demonstration in America. I don't remember which politician it was, but a video of his speech was tweaked by making him blink more often than he actually did. That minor tweak completely changed his otherwise normal upbeat speech. He looked stressed and so shifty. A big turn off. Unlike a lot of AI, which can be detected, something like that undetectable 'tweak' would be very sinister indeed.
The issue is how long before governments move beyond nudge and censorship? There are many bad actors pushing manipulative video via social medai - support for Hamas being the current source of deluge - but I fear it will not be long before state actors resort to it. Censorship, here via the Online Safety Act, but through even more stringent measure in the EU, is the response du jour to the elites failing legitimacy. Their desire to cling to power, which is all that really motivates them, will move beyond cancelling elections (Romania) or lawfare attacks on populist politicians, and may well take them down a very dark road. The BBC are not there yet (one hopes) nor are the legacy media that include video reports, but can we really rule out that one day they ....?
Images can manipulate us in subtle ways. In the 1960 US presidential election, most people who listened to the candidate debate on the radio thought that Richard Nixon had won, but those who watched it on TV thought John F. Kennedy had won. At least part of the reason is that on TV Nixon was sweating heavily in the heat of the studio (at least partly due to Kennedy asking for it to be warm, knowing Nixon sweated a lot), was visibly uncomfortable from a minor injury and wore a suit the colour of which blended disconcertingly into the backdrop, all of which were off-putting to viewers, but not listeners.
Interesting!
You allow yourself to be manipulated. If you disagree, show me the mechanics of how power forces you against your will?
Power only succeeds because you allow it to. You didn't need to believe it.
This kind of 'escape' is root cause of the world's problems, at scale.
Influencers take bags of silver for assisting in the escape.
I do agree what were told about Palestine is unverifiable. But that means I cannot have an opinion on it either.
What about the picture of the aid stretched out across northern Gaza that the UN is refusing to distribute even after the IDF offered to help? That says it all.
But that picture of the aid stretched out might also be manipulated or fake. Can´t believe anything anymore so I´ve started zoning out.
If an image like that is on MSM then it is Pallywood. MSM media lie comprehensively about the war in Gaza. Are the Russians expected to feed the Ukraine? Does Sudan feed South Sudan? The Jewish state is held to a much higher standard than anyone else.
So true, Laura. We must question every image coming out of a warzone. Considering that there were Hamas-linked journalists actually present, recording the entry through Israel's fences on October 7th 2023, I believe nothing which comes from Hamas.
In contrast, our leaders appear to believe everything, without question.
Pallywood. Best term for it ever. Staged scenes of suffering and civilian deaths. They've been doing it a long time. The term "crisis actors" underlays Pallywood. The existence of which had been conclusively proven 15-20 years ago in undoctored video evidence. Internet search for the term was full of evidence. But something changed in the past 5-10 years in internet searches. Even just 3-4 years ago when I searched the term most of the returns were confirmed evidence. Now the term has been reengineered by the propagandists to be a "derogatory term." Conspiracy theory, disinformation. Now if you search the internet you'll find different renditions of what Wikipedia describes it as:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallywood
"Pallywood (a portmanteau of "Palestine" and "Hollywood") is a derogatory term used to falsely accuse Palestinians of staging scenes of suffering and civilian death in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[6] It has been described as a conspiracy theory and a prominent element of Israeli disinformation in the conflict."
Staged scene or conspiracy theory false accusation? You decide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPaq_TNEYwY
To find the real evidence of and background of Pallywood you've got to find a decent search engine that even allows any returns exposing the fraudulent presentation of suffering, death. And that's going 5-10 pages deep in searches. And any stories listed since 2023 are nothing but propaganda that attacks the very concept of Pallywood as hateful. They really don't want the truth to come out about the fake images. Whenever they resort to "derogatory terms," "falsely accuse," "conspiracy theory," "disinformation" you know you're in the middle of a propaganda campaign trying to make truth-seeking a dangerous, dirty thing to do. Do it anyways. And you'll find the evidence. As presented in this series of links. Just have to go back far enough before the official state censors and propagandists took on the subject:
Pallywood's world of lies, August 21, 2013
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4420584,00.html
Palestine boy head-locked by Israeli soldier called 'Pallywood star', August 31, 2015
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/palestine-teenager-head-locked-by-israeli-soldier-called-pallywood-star-1517787
The Pallywood Phenomenon, May 2, 2013
https://www.aldurah.com/the-al-durah-incident/background/pallywood/
One on One: Framing the debate, March 26, 2008
https://www.jpost.com/features/one-on-one-framing-the-debate
An itchy IDF trigger finger or a ‘Pallywood’ movie?, May 23, 2014
https://www.timesofisrael.com/an-itchy-idf-trigger-finger-or-a-pallywood-movie/
Pallywood: Believing Make-Believe in the Israel-PA Narrative Wars, November 6, 2021
https://www.israeldiaries.com/pallywood-believing-make-believe-in-the-israel-pa-narrative-wars/
Pallywood: Gaza Under Attack – Images, August 17, 2015
https://campus.zoa.org/video/pallywood-gaza-under-attack-images/
Pallywood’s World of Lies, September 2, 2015
https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/blogs/120400/pallywoods-world-of-lies/
Anyone remember the stories from childhood about Pinocchio or The Boy Who Cried Wolf? When you get a reputation for lying people stop believing you. And the reputation of Pallywood that precedes October 7, 2023 is that of liars. Whatever suffering is happening there is terrible, what happens to pawns in geopolitical war games. Like in Ukraine and Russia. And every other war zone in the world. That nobody seems to care much about. But, by gosh, they care about Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza!
Fess up to the lies of the past two decades! Speak up about the human suffering in Ukraine - that the US/UK/EU funds, the "good war" against big, bad Putin that the US/UK/EU started. And the war zones, human suffering in Yemen, Somalia, Congo, all over Africa. In Pakistan/Indian war zones. Inside Syria. Inside Haiti. Cambodia-Thailand. All of the conflicts that lead to human suffering. Then maybe more people will begin to care and believe what you have to say. Until then, most of us will know the complainers are simply devotees of the Pallywood film and media genre of theater.
Interesting.
Very good! True!
Well reasoned and presented. We should always ask why, as Socrates said, "why, why, why?" And not stop asking and seeking the answers. Too much is accepted as truth at face value and not questioned. One of the perennial problems of a high openness and high trust society is the ability to manipulate and abuse that trust and openness. We are seeing the results of such long-term and systemic abuse play out before our eyes in horrifying and traumatising technicolour...
Of course out-of-context and manipulated images not only mislead, but undermine the very cause they set out to promote.
However, the significance of two tabloid newspapers publishing such images goes way beyond their actual context - it reflects a massive shift in opinion in the UK as regards Israel (including in Parliament) and - finally - a recognition that Israel is undeniably seeking to eradicate the entire population of Gaza through repeated displacement, bombing and starvation. Because these images have not emerged from a vacuum: Israel (including its citizens) is visibly and deliberately blocking the entry of aid, mismanaging the distribution of what is allowed in (by having its proxies shoot at people trying to access it). Ludicrously, Zionist trolls are still suggesting “But Hamas (it’s always “But Hamas….”) are stealing the food”. So what is Hamas doing with the food? They can’t export it. Eating it all, hundreds of tonnes? Or selling it to the people for profit? If they were selling it, the people would be broke but not starving.
According to a survey in Ha’aretz last week, 47% of respondents in Israel are in favour of “killing every man, woman and child when we invade a city”, just as the Israelites did with Jericho. A young female Israeli demonstrator was filmed this week explaining that “starving their offspring will prevent them from reproducing in the future”. This is the reality of the Zionist project.
Your position on this is beginning to look distinctly vile, Laura Dodsworth. Genocide denialism is not a good look.
"If they were selling it, the people would be broke but not starving." What if they have no money to buy the food off Hamas? Apart from which - do you believe EVERYTHING you read? Do you understand what propaganda is? If it weren't believable on some level - and Laura has pointed out some details which would make an unbiased person pause - it wouldn't be propaganda would it?
Of course I don’t believe everything I read. Let’s assume that ALL the information coming out of Gaza is Hamas- generated or controlled and therefore unreliable. The Israelis themselves, both government and civilians, are doing a fine job of condemning themselves by their words and actions. The events of 7 October have laid bare their desire to eradicate the Palestinians to the last infant. This is Israel’s Final Solution for its “Palestinian Problem”. If an Israeli journalist like Gideon Levi tells Piers Morgan “only the Nazis were proud of mass killing and genocide…”, and Norman Finkelstein compares the enticing of Palestinians to collect food aid and their subsequent murder to the Jews being led to the showers at Auschwitz, then we know where we stand and we don’t need any of Hamas’ propaganda, do we?
Your own hatred is laid bare.
Show me where I have expressed hatred. And of whom?
Anger, perhaps. But justified anger.
Hamas is stealing food. If you want to see starvation in Gaza look at the pictures of the hostages. That picture was taken in Yemen. Real starvation is happening in the Sudan with Iran’s help.
Also, why mention Sudan and Iran? That is “Whataboutery” typical of the Israeli government trying to deflect attention from its own crimes and a tactic beloved by Vladimir Putin.
If you really still believe that there is no starvation in Gaza, I suggest you watch this. Starvation of a people is a protracted process that harms a minority at first, then spreads to the rest of the population.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c4g8gy52dwgo
Jillian,
The photo you are referring to, circulated on the internet purportedly of a child in Gaza, was of a boy with cerebral palsy taken in Yemen in 2020, not the one published by UK newspapers this week. In my first comment above, I agreed that posting false images undermines the cause they are trying to promote.
The photograph referred to by Laura Dodsworth in her post was taken recently by photographer Ahmed Al-Arini in Gaza city. He was interviewed by the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/czryry57x4do
Many cases of infant starvation and death in Gaza have so far been the result of a medical complication that would easily have been prevented if basic baby formula and medication were available. Such as Siwar Ashour (see Guardian article). This is still starvation. The IDF has systematically destroyed the health system, hospital by hospital (there were 36 hospitals in Gaza) and more importantly imprisoning and murdering Palestinian doctors and health workers so that even if the hospitals are rebuilt and reequipped there will be no one to run them (see Channel 4 documentary Doctors in Gaza).
Why are you defending this genocide?
Hidin' in plain sight... few see this stuff... the "genocide-printed tablecloth" seems ta cover quite the feast... sure, not fer everybuddy... but... there is CAUSE ta pause...
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFjhyAsHYFo (from adorable Oren of Traveling Israel!)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkrHh-d4FA (ditto)
3.https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/07/23/hamas-terrorists-luxury-diet-this-is-what-they-are-hiding/
4. https://gazawood.com/
5. https://danielgreenfield.substack.com/p/israel-is-killing-gaza-with-obesity
so, is HamAss stealin' all the HumAss? inquirin' minds wanna guess...yes
oof this is awkward, a full interview with the Mother from the BBC. Maybe they haven't made the whole thing up after all eh Laura.
then again, maybe the Beeb is in on the scam?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c4gdg13rrx4o
I had watched it. I just don't understand it, it raises more questions than it answers, most especially, why is her son emaciated and she looks adequately fed and healthy?
If you were at all minded to look at this objectively you might have come to the conclusion that babies need regular and specialist food during their first few months of life, and that whilst grass and hay can keep an adult human functioning it won't do for a baby. You didn't think that though. You were just concerned about the power of the photograph.
Sad that people are determined to cling to their preconceptions, no matter what.
Everyone knows about the allies in WWII dropping food supplies on Germany to insure that the children of the Nazis didn’t go hungry right? Neither do I.
Are we forced to accept these images as true. Or do we make a free independent choice to believe they are true?
In the final analysis it is 'me' who chooses. No power can manipulate me, nudge me or exploit me.
I choose to believe the story I want to believe.
So your article is curious in that it does not ask about this observed fact. And implies by some magic, that Power reaches inside our minds and flicks a switch, against our will.
I suspect that Mossad is the likely source of ai generated images to discredit the real reports from Gaza.