DUBAI: US-based organization Stop Antisemitism posted a message on social media platform X on Wednesday that appeared to state Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin’s daughter, Aoibhe Martin, had been kidnapped and raped by Hamas in Gaza on Oct. 7 and that now “he is rewarding his daughter’s rapists with a state of their own.”
The organization added another post, more than an hour later, in which it said the initial post “is for illustrative purposes only” and the events it described “did not actually occur.”
Meet Ireland's FM Micheal Martin family - on October 7th, Hamas terrorists raped & kidnapped his daughter Aoibhe Martin into Gaza.
Today FM Micheal Martin announced he is rewarding his daughter's rapists with a state of their own.
LUNACY RIGHT?! Then why are you doing this to… pic.twitter.com/UZVnAV6W1e
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 22, 2024
The blatant use of disinformation outraged many X users, with some suggesting that such posts serve only to increase incidents of antisemitism. Others said comments about rape should not be made lightly and that there was nothing “illustrative” about the post.
Tweets like this actually increase antisemitism rather than stopping it
— Pericles 'Perry' Abbasi (@ElectionLegal) May 22, 2024
It's not very illustrative. Respectfully, you should really take this post down.
— Patrick Pendergast (@LPoPNH) May 22, 2024
Why are you lying about a woman being raped? This is extremely weird behaviour and does nothing to help stop antisemitism.
— Cillian (@CilComLFC) May 22, 2024
Does not make sense.
— DeepState Illuminate (@TheDeep_State6) May 22, 2024
If this is a hypothetical that isn't clear. And it's really tasteless. Trivializes the actual victims.
— Eve Examines(@EveExamines) May 22, 2024
This does not deliver on the sentiment that is being attempted.
This actually shows the brazen disregard for such allegations, if they are thrown around to make a point this it completely misses to make.
— Su-Lai-Mahn (@sulaimankhn6) May 22, 2024
Critics say that disinformation and fake news has greatly increased on X since Elon Musk bought the platform in April 2022. In the past two years, the company has shed thousands of jobs, many of them related to content moderation.
European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova last year accused X of being the social media platform with the highest ratio of fake news, and urged Musk to comply with EU laws designed to combat disinformation.
In April, X’s own artificial intelligence chatbot Grok generated a fake headline that stated: “Iran Strikes Tel Aviv with Heavy Missiles.” It was promoted on the main X feed.
In the 48 hours following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, misinformation was rampant on the platform. One video that claimed to show Israeli generals captured by a Hamas fighter was actually footage of separatists detained in Azerbaijan. Another clip showing an airplane being shot down was accompanied by the hashtag #PalestineUnderAttack when it was really footage taken from the video game Arma 3. The former video was viewed more than 1.7 million times in two days, the latter more than 500,000 times.
Earlier on Wednesday, Martin had announced in a video message posted on X that the Irish government will formally recognize the State of Palestine on May 28.
“The Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, peace, dignity and statehood must be vindicated,” he added. “It is our conviction that the two-state solution remains the only viable option to secure a just and lasting peace that fulfills these rights for both Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
Today, the Government announces it will formally recognise the State of Palestine on May 28th.
Today, we state clearly our unambiguous support for the equal right to security, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. pic.twitter.com/uGoymhg5VD
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) May 22, 2024
He added that recognition of Palestine as a state did not mean the legitimization of Hamas.
“Recognition does not involve recognition of a government, it’s recognition of a state,” he told Irish radio program The Pat Kenny Show.
Martin had not responded to Stop Antisemitism’s post on X at the time of writing.
