The online discourse against hostages’ families has worsened in recent weeks, according to the February interim report compiled by FakeReporter.
By examining the online discourse, researchers found its main perpetrators to be influencers who support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including media personalities and Likud activists. Through their online posts, they attempt to portray the struggle and suffering of the hostages’ families as illegitimate.
Researchers analyzed the online discourse on X, Meta, and Telegram in the periods ranging from October 7 to February 6. The keywords they searched include “hostages’ families protests,” “Kaplan,” etc. Furthermore, some 68,000 posts, which were labeled negative, positive, and neutral, were gathered for random sampling.
The report divides the online discourse against the families into two main delegitimization claims.
Protests ‘unauthentic’
The first argument points to the lack of authenticity in the protest, attributing to it subversive and political intentions.
For such reasons, those behind this discourse attempt to link the hostage protest to that of the judicial reform. They label the hostage protest the “Kaplan protests,” trying to tint it politically or alternatively stating the Kaplan protesters commandeered it and are taking advantage of the hostages.
A prominent target of theirs is Gil Dikman. His two cousins, Yarden Roman and Carmel Gat, were kidnapped to Gaza, with Gat still being held in captivity. His aunt Kinneret was murdered on October 7.
Dikman is a central figure in the struggle to return the hostages home. On social media, he is characterized as a “provocateur” or “actor” and accused, among others, of interfering with the government’s attempts to return the hostages and of using his position for his own political advantage.
Harming Israel
The second argument is that the protest harms the State of Israel, dismantling it from within while strengthening Hamas and even acting in the service of the terror organization.
Some even go as far as delegitimizing the protest because it harms Netanyahu. They state the families are not interested in returning their loved ones but rather are acting for the downfall of the government.
According to the study, in many cases, the violent incitement and verbal violence against the families are translated to actual brutal acts.
In mid-November, for example, the father of hostage Liri Albag was hit during the Kaplan protest. In December, there was an attempted arson of the hostage families' tent in Jerusalem, while in February, multiple attacks on hostages’ relatives were reported.