It seems the concept of coexistence has fallen on semi-deaf ears in the occupying state of Israel; it's as if they understood the pronunciation of the words, but failed to grasp the idea behind them. And whether or not their photoshop skills are existent is another ambiguous field we won't delve into at the moment.
The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Arabic Twitter account posted on Saturday a - let's call it a not-so-believable photo - that was sent to them by user @bamedi. In it, the ever-famous Jewish greeting "Shabbat Shalom" (meaning 'Happy/Good Saturday' or 'May your Sabbath be Peaceful') is written on a blue card with the holy Kaaba as the backdrop.
A caption accompanied the photo, reading "We received this photo from a pilgrim to Mecca, it shows the greeting 'have a blessed sabbath' (shabbat shalom) addressed to the Jews or Israelis from the heart of Mecca. This is a beautiful message that represents brotherhood and peace."
"Judaism inside Mecca. Mutual coexistence and respect is so beautiful," the Israeli military's spokesperson for Arab audiences, Avichay Adraee, said in his reply to the tweet.
The ministry's effort to have Arabs bite into their "pure" intentions of spreading peace and harmony among them both went as far as faking their way into the holiest of all cities, Mecca. But occupying Palestine, killing its people, and hating on Arabs for decades aren't signs of hate and cruelty. No. They're most definitely signs of nothing but "brotherhood and peace" ... yeah, sure.
Now, most Arabs and Muslims weren't quick to judge. They instead low-key investigated the photo to confirm its credibility.
Turns out, the photo is not only old but also fabricated. Talk about the rise of deepfakes these days; now it's about videos and audios, but photos have always been the easiest to fall for.
According to one Arab tweep, the photo was taken two years ago, in 2017, and updated this year - on the day it was uploaded to Twitter, actually.
Another online user was allegedly able to detect flaws in the failed photoshop attempt
But then again, how would the Israeli ministry know what's photoshopped and what's real? Look at their cover photo on Twitter ...
Arabs, oh God Arabs, were fuming all over the post ... fuming and trolling, to be exact
"There's no brotherhood nor peace between us"
"I have a solution, it's Umrah not Hajj. But for the photoshop part, I have nothing"
"You don't need an expert to tell you it's photoshopped, but you do need a photoshop expert for next time"
This wouldn't be Israel's first attempt to spread fake news
The occupying power has been trying to advertise most Middle Eastern dishes, from shawarma to kunafa, as their own. They even had the audacity to claim having falafel, hummus, and the obviously North African shakshouka under their name.
Also, since they're so keen on having a peaceful relationship with their fellow Arab neighbors, why did they turn a 13th-century mosque in Palestine into a nightclub? Where's the respect in that move? Or is it just Palestine that they despise?
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son argued that the absence of the letter "P" in Arabic means "Palestine" doesn't exist. So yeah, it's probably just this poor country that they raided and illegally settled in that they hate.
"Hi all the idiots that twist 'Palestine'. There's no such thing! There is even no P in Arabic. Palestine is name the Romans gave to the land instead if [sic] Judea, as a punishment to the Jews for their revolt, 700 years before Mohammad was born. You arabs bending in *arabia* and we Jews belong to *judea*. You Arabs already have 22 countries, and Muslims have 50! There was never an Arab country name Palestine and there will never be. BTW did u notice it’s exactly the same flag as Jordan? Israel is the Jewish state from the river to the sea!" he tweeted at the time.
If the son of the highest power in Israel believes that, what has he left to the less knowledgeable?