Posts in support of Palestine using paraglider images and motifs are drawing outrage online, days after attacks in Israel by Hamas killed around 900 Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 770 people since the attacks in Israel, with a further 4,000 people wounded, reported Haaretz.
On Tuesday, the X account for BLM Chicago posted an image on X showing a graphic that reads “I Stand With Palestine” under the dark silhouette of a paraglider carrying a Palestinian flag.
“That is all that is it!” read the caption.
“The BLM chapter in Chicago just posted this in support of Hamas,” posted @Julio_Rosas11 over a screenshot of one post.
“Evidently not just in support of Hamas but in specific support of its savage attacks on Israeli civilians,” commented @seanrcallaghan. “That’s the meaning of including the hang glider in the graphic.”
Hamas militants infiltrated communities in the south of Israel in an organized assault Saturday morning, with some of the soldiers using parachutes powered by back-mounted engines. Videos that circulated on social media showed some of the militants on the motorized hang-gliders entering Israel on Saturday.
Another video taken at a music festival that came under attack on Saturday showed what appeared to be some of the hang-gliders in the distance while attendees danced in the foreground.
A report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Monday said that the death toll from the attack on the festival was over 250 people.
A video published by Hamas showed some of the preparations for the Hamas incursion by hang-glider, which Reuters reported were sent over the border to coincide with a 3,000 rocket barrage from Gaza. The fighters who flew the hang gliders then secured terrain on the Israeli side of the border wall to prepare for an assault from the other side that breached the wall.
However, the BLM Chicago poster wasn’t the only one spotted online.
@SaysCL highlighted a poster in an Instagram post from the La F.U.E.R.Z.A Student Association at CSU Long Beach that used a silhouette of a motorized paraglider to advertise a protest for Palestine led by the CSULB Students United Against Apartheid.
“is that a paraglider??” commented one user on Instagram. “you make me sick. absolutely disgusting[.]”
“I’m sorry that y’all have to deal with this heartless reaction,” commented one person on X.
“It’s evil,” commented another. “And really bad artwork.”
