The Presidency’s Directorate of Communications hosted a panel on Wednesday in the capital, Ankara, for the introduction of "Lies of Israel," a new initiative to tackle rampant disinformation spread by Israel and its supporters amid the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Prominent figures and Palestinian participants highlighted the importance of Israel’s propaganda machine as the Zionist regime continues mass killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and beyond.
Professor Fahrettin Altun, head of the directorate, said Türkiye would remain steadfast in its stance against Israel and would represent truth in the face of injustice. “We will not remain silent as Israel deceives the world with lies and manipulates people through disinformation it spreads,” he said at the event.
The directorate has already been instrumental in fact-checking as the conflict raged on, claiming more than 40,000 Palestinian lives. It occasionally releases reports on facts on the ground, often countering Israel’s attempts to portray Palestinians as terrorists.
Altun said at the event that Israel has been applying methods of fear and violence in its occupation of Palestinian lands since World War II. He added that the only change in Israel’s aggression since then was its proportion. “It reached such a level that it now threatens the Middle East and world peace. Türkiye has been drawing attention to this fact (since the beginning of the new round of conflict in 2023),” he said.
“As our president said, Türkiye endeavors to open a humanity front. However, we see the global system must immediately change its mindset and paradigm on this issue,” Altun added.
He said Türkiye has never shied away from openly pointing out facts about Israel in the international community. “Under the leadership of our president, we raise our voice against this cruelty and genocide. The president exerted efforts to stop the conflict as well as exposure of war crimes and (Israel’s) complicity in those crimes. “As the Directorate of Communications, we worked to expose Israel’s attempts to rally the public in its favor through false narratives and disinformation. So far, we exposed more than 250 different disinformation pieces by Israel and informed the public about them in six languages,” he said.
The director said the "Lies of Israel" platform was a testament to Türkiye’s adherence to truth and justice. “This is a communications front against disinformation by Israel and its supporters,” he said.
The platform will include articles and documents that will serve as fact-checking documents open to the public in seven languages. Altun said they would help the wider public to have access to fight against Israel’s malicious campaigns seeking to legitimize its genocide in Gaza through digital content and social media platforms. “It is a multidimensional database and will be an important international source (against Israel’s disinformation campaigns),” he said.
The event continued with a panel moderated by Daily Sabah Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Altay. Speaking at the panel, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser for foreign policy and security, Akif Çağatay Kılıç, said the world now had a new media where people have to dig deeper to find the truth. He stated that media executives and decision-makers were responsible for countering this perception. “Everything untrue is a lie. That is why the communications directorate calls this 'Lies of Israel.' We have to insist on unveiling the lies and hold those insisting on lies accountable,” he stated.
Egyptian journalist Rahma Zein said at the same panel that the Palestine-Israel conflict was a turning point in history. Zein noted that Israel sought to portray people supporting Palestine as a desperate group with a weak mindset. “We are facing a propaganda machine that has been active for more than 70 years. Israel created a perception that it is strong through lies,” Zein said.
