EXTREMSIMDenial and Distortion of the Hamas-led October 7 Attack: An Overview of False Narratives

Since October 7, extremists and conspiracy theorists have promoted mis- and disinformation narratives about the reality of Hamas’s unprecedented, multi-pronged attack on Israel, attempting to deny or minimize the tragedy and shift the blame towards victims, a majority of whom were innocent civilians.

These misleading or false claims — many of which have proliferated on mainstream social media platforms — manipulate and distort the facts of the mass assault, invalidate the pain of victims and their families, and fuel hateful rhetoric that puts Jews and Israelis at risk of real-world harm.

The ADL Center on Extremism unpacked some prominent false narratives across social media.

FALSE NARRATIVE: Israel Was Responsible for the October 7 Attack
On social media, anti-Israel conspiracy theorists and extremists have used a variety of claims to construct the broader false narrative that Israel—not Hamas—was responsible for the mass killing spree on October 7, despite Hamas claiming responsibility for the attack and terrorists filming themselves committing the acts.

Hours after news broke of Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel, antisemitic and white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes suggested the attack was “suspicious,” casting doubt that the Israeli government would have been caught off guard by Hamas’s attack, and alluding to how it could garner global sympathy for Israel’s own political benefit.

On social media platforms like X, users shared unfounded claims that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intentionally fired on their own civilians at the Supernova music festival on October 7 via “Apache helicopters,” posting aerial footage of the supposed attack. This clip was used in attempts to discredit and minimize documented images of terribly burned victims and vehicles in and around the festival.

In reality, the footage in question was released by the IDF on October 9 and shows the IDF engaging in airstrikes on Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip on October 8. Notably, there have been other reports about civilians inadvertently injured during Israel’s military response to the Hamas attack that day; IDF representatives have indicated that they would investigate these matters further.

However, claims that the footage shows IDF helicopters firing on Supernova attendees are false, and there is ample visual evidence and testimony of Hamas attacking attendees and workers at the festival on October 7.