The IDF Spokesperson, in cooperation with the IDF Casualties Unit, is launching a nationwide information campaign today (Monday) to prevent the spread of rumors on social media.
The campaign, under the slogan "Don't let rumors knock on the door," along with the tag Enough with the rumors (# Stop the rumors), is being launched after the IDF realized that the issue of distributing the names of wounded, IDF martyrs, and units involved in casualty incidents reaches the soldiers' families, before the IDF manages to complete the process of handling the casualty reports.
In some cases, the gap between the information distributed on social media and WhatsApp groups is disconnected from reality, but causes severe harm to the soldiers' families.
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In quite a few cases, family members even received notifications that their son had been killed during operational activity - something that turned out to be untrue.
At the center of the campaign is a film depicting the story of the Amani family, whose son, Hezi, fought in Operation Protective Edge. During the operation, the family received a false rumor about Hezi's fall, which was spread on social media.
The feeling of pain, the freezing fear, and the uncertainty that surrounded the family members are burned into their memories to this day, and they talk about it in the film.
The IDF spokesman's statement said that the goal of the campaign is "to explain and illustrate to the Israeli public the seriousness of the issue and the deep scars that the rumors leave in the souls of the families.".
