Israel provokes social media outrage after tweeting “vile” rocket emojis
The tweets have been declaimed as insensitive, cruel and downright tone-deaf, but this is not the first time official Israeli social media accounts have provoked social media users.
Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wave an Israeli flag with an image of Netanyahu, as his corruption trial resumes, near Jerusalem's District Court April 5, 2021.
The State of Israel's official Twitter account managed by the @IsraelMFA's Digital Diplomacy team.
Israel’s official Twitter account, managed by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared 12 deeply provocative tweets that have the internet in an uproar. The tweet states, "Just to give you all some perspective, these are the total amount of rockets shot at Israeli civilians," followed by rockets.
Social media users hit back with tweets that used baby emoji to represent how many children Israel has killed in the past weeks of violence.
Provocative tweets are nothing uncommon to official Israeli accounts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently came under fire after releasing the following tweet.
The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong, and in the end peace is made with the strong.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 29, 2018
One Twitter user lashed back after finding a highly similar quote found in Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Believe or not, yes, you are correct pic.twitter.com/R7ZetjHT45
— Leandro Illustra (@LeandroIlustra) May 17, 2021
With escalating tensions between Israel and Palestine, Israeli’s military has fired successive barrages of artillery and airstrikes on Gaza, as Hamas continues to fire homemade rockets into Israeli occupied territories.
Israeli air strikes killed at least six people across Gaza and destroyed the home of a large extended family early on Wednesday, raising the death toll to at least 219, including 63 children and 36 women.
The ongoing violence has seen mostly civilian casualties, making the “barrage of insensitive tweets” much more insensitive, provoking outrage among Twitter users.
The tweets also come after more than 1,400 Palestinians have been wounded in the ceaseless attacks.
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 17, 2021
“Make no mistake. Every rocket has an address. What would you do if that address was yours?” reads the concluding tweet.
Make no mistake. Every rocket has an address. What would you do if that address was yours?
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 17, 2021
Here are some of the most vocal reactions to the tweet.
One Twitter user responded by tweeting child emojis at the account writing, “I did one with the number of kids you’ve killed.”
We need a ceasefire. Children are dying. pic.twitter.com/XP4vBJyKF2
— Adam Smith (@adamndsmith) May 17, 2021
🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒i did one with the number of kids you've killed
— Creighton M 🆓🇵🇸 (@CreightonOTE) May 17, 2021
38,000 have been displaced, can you put that into perspective as well please?
— Sam 🇵🇸 سامي (@sam_aa305) May 17, 2021
— qama⁷slow | #FreePalestine🇲🇾🇵🇸🔅 (@yooniejjunie) May 17, 2021
If you have time to meme your way through this you might be the oppressors waging genocide on a people and theft on the land. https://t.co/IMokqzOkl3
— Kelly Rowland, Thee 2nd Lead Singer (@Danez_Smif) May 17, 2021
After some comments, I think a better headline would be "lost international public opinion front," in place of "diplomatic." Certainly, Israel still holds upper hand in US and Europe and to an extent among leadership of some Arab countries, but there is a real shift among public.
— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) May 18, 2021
Palestinian children are hiding under their beds each night as Israeli firepower (via 🇺🇸🇬🇧) rains down indiscriminately on their homes
— Chris Hazzard (@ChrisHazzardSF) May 17, 2021
The Israeli state is depraved - this tweet is sickeningly cruel & vindictive https://t.co/a4vNRTNIDC
The Israeli apartheid regime is having an extremely normal one
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) May 17, 2021
This is what massacring children will do to your brain https://t.co/3HC68pGdEL pic.twitter.com/z8vBVGCNEJ
what’s that saying about letting people hang themselves with their own rope?
— #SaveSheikhJarrah (@lenapalestina) May 17, 2021
Israel can meme about rockets being launched at them because at the end of the day they know they have the militaristic upper hand. They wouldn’t dare outline how many arms they’ve raised against Palestinians. I’m glad their grab for sympathy is backfiring. https://t.co/t7mmaynFg7
— Rubén (@xoxorubenangel) May 17, 2021
y’all are completely deranged. acting like a stan account while doing a genocide and ethnic cleansing as if this is all just some game... DISGUSTING! https://t.co/bebsn1I0GF
— k.❦ (@NINETIESRNB) May 17, 2021
A country going through a humanitarian crisis does not do shit like this. https://t.co/gCYgiQEylq
— ALI (@syedalihaider_) May 17, 2021
this is so beyond vile i’m still wrapping my head around the thought process that went into this from a publicity standpoint https://t.co/n8Sn1LXqYI
— nina | חנינה (@fireheartfemme) May 17, 2021
So why not try emoticonizing how many missiles and rockets and bullets YOU have shot at Palestinian civilians and how many lots of land YOU have stolen from Palestinians. #WeStandWithPalestine
— COTTONRICE KICKERS (@myunghwa9) May 18, 2021
🚀🔥🧨💣🔫⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️ https://t.co/J0aIAinMlK
if I tweeted 🇵🇸 for every civilians killed by your rockets i would be suspended long before I finished https://t.co/v0I7Y6sgt1
— mari (@strandednowhere) May 18, 2021
Israel says Hamas has launched more than 3,000 rockets so far. Hamas claims to be able to maintain the fire for another six months.
Globally, public opinion is slowly shifting against Israel as more major news outlets and international organizations are becoming increasingly vocal in pointing to the excessive and indiscriminate force Israel uses against journalists, civilians and children.
Ninety per cent of Hamas missiles are intercepted by the Iron dome system. Many fall short of their targets.
So far ten people in Israel have been victims of Hamas rocket fire, including a 5-year-old boy and one soldier. Meanwhile, Gaza is witness to at least 40,000 displaced civilians after dozens of residential buildings have been flattened by the air strikes.
The clashes and violence began after Israeli settlers supported by police attempted to illegally evict Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem.
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