Israeli army twisted truth on Gaza, says former military press staffer

A former member of the Israeli army spokesperson’s unit said Monday that the military manipulated the truth about its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, describing her own role in shaping information released to the media, Anadolu reports.

Ayelet Kroizer said innocent Palestinians were labeled “terrorists” and military statements were tailored to strengthen public support and secure international legitimacy for army operations.

She made the remarks in a post on the US social media platform X announcing her appointment as spokesperson for Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization that publishes former soldiers’ testimonies about military abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“During my service, I manipulated the details released to the media. I saw how the word ‘terrorist’ was attached even to innocent Palestinians and how statements were tailored to the target audience and the objective set for it,” she wrote.

Kroizer said her work exposed her not only to conditions in the West Bank and Gaza but also to how the army chose to present them to the public.

She described the military spokesperson’s extensive control over the public’s understanding of events, saying it handled the truth like a public relations agency rather than an institution accountable to the public.

The unit’s stated objective when addressing Israelis was to strengthen public confidence in the army, she said, adding “the public’s right to know was secondary at best.”

For international audiences, the objective was to strengthen and expand the legitimacy of military operations.

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“Here, too, the price was the truth,” she wrote.

Kroizer also described how statements reporting mass casualties were followed by routine expressions of regret.

“I learned how to report dozens of deaths in a single strike and automatically add that we regret any harm to uninvolved people. That was the routine of my service,” she said.

“I had never been good at staying silent in the face of injustice, but here I was being asked to do PR for it.”

Kroizer said she grew up in the ultra-Orthodox community and waived her military exemption three years ago to enlist during the war.

“I enlisted to take part in what I believed at the time was defending the country,” she wrote.

She said she had never imagined that after completing her service she would join Breaking the Silence rather than travel or begin her studies.

The organization welcomed her appointment in a post on X, saying it was time to bring the truth about the occupation to the public.

Kroizer ended her post by urging others who served during the war to speak out.

“So I will not stay silent. If you served during the war, don’t stay silent either.”

Since October 2023, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 175,000 others, figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry showed. The war has also destroyed around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

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