A Twitter account operated by someone claiming to be an Israeli Defense Force sniper looks a little fishy thanks to some electronic detective work. The following was posted yesterday.
Just a small sample of the weapons and IDF uniforms we found in a tunnel yesterday. Ironic they are all US AR-15's. pic.twitter.com/tBBJ1LyDAQ
— Israeli Sniper (@IsraeliSniper) July 24, 2014
Shocking news, right? Not so much.
@IsraeliSniper @NathanWurtzel That is a lie. Those guns are from a Mexican drug bust 4 years ago http://t.co/5y16tECTOs
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) July 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/NathanWurtzel/status/492415416531034112
@NathanWurtzel @politicalmath I recently became aware of the reverse Google Image search. It's pretty neat and helpful for stuff like this.
— Mike (@ThePantau) July 24, 2014
This was also posted by IsraeliSniper
Lots of interest in Hamas weapons we found in tunnels yesterday. Another shot, RPG's and sniper rifles. pic.twitter.com/qM8fjCyavO
— Israeli Sniper (@IsraeliSniper) July 24, 2014
Reverse image search indicates that picture has been on the web for around four years as well. It looks like those weapons may have been part of the batch seized in the same drug bust mentioned by PoliticalMath.
https://twitter.com/Miriamsh/status/492292639568703488
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@Miriamsh @GidonShaviv r us saying he's a fraud?
— ROL ?? ?? (@Ruud16994378) July 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/Miriamsh/status/492295391119802368
@jonathanross @Miriamsh @JudgeDan48 @GidonShaviv these are not fake. The IDF ended up put them in their official blog pic.twitter.com/qliLZ8j3Sw
— Israeli Sniper (@IsraeliSniper) July 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/Miriamsh/status/492307872001589248
We can’t confirm exactly where these weapons were captured, but there is no way the pictures depict anything that happened this week. On the sites where they appear they are accompanied by other photos which depict the logo of Los Zetas, a violent Mexican drug cartel.
It’s not unreasonable to think that the tweeter is probably not an IDF sniper—maybe not even Israeli.
Now why would someone want to claim that Hamas fighters were using U.S. AR-15s?
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