Misinformation follows attack on Israel

Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, taking hostages and beginning a conflict that has escalated in the past week. Hours of video and hundreds of photos showing the struggle have emerged, with many ending up on social media.

While much of the information being reported is accurate, there's still plenty of fake news and misinformation among the internet posts, according to the Associated Press.

One video posted to social media shows a group of people using multi-colored parachutes to descend on a crowd in a sports field complex.

“Hamas paraglided amongst Israeli citizens and proceeded to massacre them,” the post read.

But that clip, which shows parachuters landing on a soccer field in Egypt, was posted to TikTok in September. In the video, the crowd isn't distressed, but can be seen running toward the parachuters while taking photos and videos with their phones.

A separate social media post includes what appears to be a memo from President Joe Biden authorizing a sizable amount of money for Israel.

“BREAKING! Biden signs order to send $8 BILLION in Military Aid to Israel,” read the post on X, which included an image of the memo.

But that memo is fake, White House spokesperson Sean Savett told the AP. Although it includes a White House logo at the top and Biden's signature at the bottom, it appears to be a doctored version of a memo the president issued in July, providing $400 million in aid to Ukraine.

Other fake posts include two videos of Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently warning the U.S. about the Israel-Hamas war.

The English subtitles on one video show Putin saying, “America wants to Destroy israel as we destroy ukraine In past. I am warning America. Russia will help palestine and america can do nothing.”

Subtitles on the other clip of Putin speaking read, “I am warning america to stay Away from palestine israel war.”

But both of these videos were taken before the recent conflict and Putin doesn't mention Israel or Hamas. The subtitles included are fake.

The first video is from December 2022 and Putin is actually discussing Russia's war in Ukraine. The second clip is the Russian president at a February 2023 event celebrating the anniversary of a World War II Soviet victory.

Biden building border wall

As a presidential candidate in the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden said he would not build any more sections of the wall at the southern border.

“There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration,” candidate Biden said during an Aug. 5, 2020, interview.

But it didn't work out that way, according to PolitiFact. The Biden administration, on Oct. 5, said construction will begin soon on nearly 20 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Following the announcement, Biden said he had to use funds Congress had appropriated to build the wall.

“I was told that I had no choice. That if Congress passes legislation to build something — whether it's an aircraft carrier, a wall, or provide for a tax cut — I can't say, 'I don't like it. I'm not going to do it,'” Biden said.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in an Oct. 5 memo, said the construction is due to an increase in the number of immigrants trying to illegally cross into the U.S.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States," Mayorkas said.

Audio of Lara Trump singing was altered

A video that appears to show Lara Trump, wife of former President Donald Trump's son Eric, singing way off key has shown up on social media.

“Lara Trump sings her new original single 'Won't Back Down' (which totally wasn't stolen from Tom Petty) live on air… it goes about as well as you'd expect,” read the text posted with the video on X.

But this post is fake, according to the Associated Press,. The audio has been altered to make it sound as if Trump is singing off key.

Trump has released a cover version of “I Won't Back Down” and was asked to sing part of it during an appearance on Sky News Australia. Her actual vocals can be heard in that clip.

The original poster of the altered video admitted in later posts that he had edited the original audio of Trump's singing using Melodyne, an audio editing tool, the AP said.

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.