1
THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
THE CURRENT
“Parsing disinformation in the Israel-Hamas conflict”
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Host: Fred Dews, Office of Communications, Brookings
Guest: Valerie Wirtschafter, Fellow, Foreign Policy, Artificial Intelligence and
Emerging Technology Initiative, Brookings
[music]
DEWS: You're listening to The Current, part of the Brookings Podcast Network. I'm
Fred Dews.
The war between Israel and Hamas militants operating out of Gaza has produced
horrific images and also misinformation and disinformation about actions on both
sides. This myths and disinformation spreads through social media like X, the former
Twitter, and confuses our understanding of what's happening. And worse. To help us
understand misinformation and disinformation in the current conflict between Israel
and Hamas, I'm joined by Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow in foreign Policy and the
Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at Brookings.
Valerie. Welcome to The Current.
WIRTSCHAFTER: Thanks for having me.
DEWS: So, the broadest sense of this conversation is misinformation and
disinformation. Before we get into the specifics of the Israel-Hamas conflict, can you
explain if there's a difference between those two terms?
WIRTSCHAFTER: Yeah, I think so. The main difference really is in thinking about
intent. Maybe accidentally spreading something would be, I say, traditionally defined
