IDF says it ran unauthorized '72 Virgins - Uncensored' Telegram channel

An IDF Psychological Warfare unit operated an unauthorized Telegram Channel entitled “72 Virgins - Uncensored,” the military admitted to Haaretz earlier this week after the paper reported on the channel last month.

Shortly after the October 7 massacre, on October 9, the unit, whose primary targets are foreign and enemy audiences, created and operated the channel, this time veered toward the Israeli public, without authorization.

Sharing exclusive information

The channel's administrators posted graphic content, including videos in which the bodies of terrorists can be seen, accompanied by the caption “Shatter the terrorists’ fantasies.” They also posted images and videos of the elimination of terrorists and footage of the Gaza Strip, urging their followers to share the content so that “everyone can see we’re screwing them.

Critically, the channel also shared exclusive information from IDF investigations, to which only Israel’s defense establishment was supposed to be privy, according to the paper. 

Haaretz further noted the operators of the channel used low register and crude language to veil the origin of the channel.

This can be exemplified through captions such as “Exterminating the roaches…exterminating the Hamas rats…Share this beauty,” to accompany photos of captured Gazans and bodies of Hamas terrorists. 

In an additional video, in which a soldier is seen reportedly dipping his bullets in lard, the text read, “What a man!!!!! Greases his bullets with lards. You won’t get your virgins.”

A different video, showing an Israeli car allegedly driving over the body of a terrorist time and time again, was accompanied by “Very good, Gershon!!! Run him over, run him over!!!! Screw the bastards! Flatten them.”

The content posted on the channel was not exclusive to Gaza. In the October 11 incident, which saw a violent gathering of La Familia followers at the Sheba Medical Center following reports that a Hamas terrorist was hospitalized there, the channel posted a video with the caption, “My brothers, the heroesssss, La Familia fans, love you!!!!!!! What heroes, they came to screw the Arabs.”

The channel garnered some 5,300 followers and shared hundreds of posts. 

The IDF's Spokesperson's Unit told Haaretz that following an investigation, "it was found that the Telegram page was operated by the IDF without authorization and without authority. The incident has been dealt with."