Tehran-backed hate campaign reportedly targets Nova massacre survivors

An Iranian-backed online propaganda campaign has targeted survivors of the Nova music festival massacre, including former Israeli hostages Noa Argamani and Romi Gonen, according to a new report by the Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA) movement cited by The Telegraph.

The report says the campaign used thousands of fake social media accounts to spread Oct. 7 denial and falsely claim that Israel, rather than Hamas, carried out the attack.

The report says the Tehran-coordinated campaign is part of an "ongoing, multi-layered digital campaign" aimed at denying Hamas' atrocities, harassing survivors and amplifying antisemitic conspiracy theories.

It concludes that much of the propaganda remains online despite violating the policies of major social media platforms.

The Iran-linked campaign also demonized and dehumanized Nova survivors with racist, sexist and abusive slurs.

“The phenomenon ranges from outright denial, claiming the attack was a staged event involving ‘crisis actors’ and fake blood, to posts and comments shifting blame to the IDF,” the FOA report stated.

Oct. 7 denial has become a global phenomenon that seeks to whitewash Hamas' atrocities against Israeli civilians while portraying Israel's military campaign in Gaza as an "aggression" or even "genocide."

Hamas terrorists murdered 364 people at the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. Nearly one-third of those killed that day were murdered at the festival.

The report identifies 𝕏 as a "hub" for false-flag claims and viral conspiracy theories involving Jews and Israel. It also says TikTok is "saturated with harassment of survivors, antisemitic memes and videos that exploit popular trends to spread hateful messages or mock civilian suffering."

Among those targeted was Argamani, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival during the Oct. 7 attack and rescued by Israeli special forces in June 2024 after 235 days in Hamas captivity.

According to the report, the Iran-linked campaign has portrayed the former hostage as a "terrorist" and a "whore."

The report also documents a broader campaign to deny the systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli women, as well as abuse suffered by male hostages.

The Iranian-led campaign has also targeted Gonen, who has publicly testified about the abuse she endured during Hamas captivity in Gaza.

Nova festival co-producer Omri Sasi has likewise been targeted after speaking publicly about the atrocities committed during the attack.

“It is not easy,” he told The Telegraph. “They started kidnapping people to Gaza, and if someone did not want to come, they killed him immediately, and then burned all the cars that were stuck on the road."

“I saw them firing RPGs and throwing grenades at every car with people inside,” Sasi continued. “I was with a group of people and we ran. They fired machine guns and some of the people next to me fell. I saw the most horrible things.”

The widespread denial of Hamas's crimes at the Nova festival prompted Sasi to produce the Nova Festival Exhibition, which is currently on display in London.

“This is our counterstrike. I cannot control these people,” he admitted, referring to the online attackers.

“They can write whatever they want. I know the truth. I organized the festival. I lost family members there. I invite anyone who thinks what happened is not real, or that Israel staged this festival to start a war, to come and see how wrong they are,” Sasi stated.

“The survivors are harmed twice,” the report assessed. “The harassment documented here is not abstract. Identified individuals, including hostages and their families, are subjected to ongoing campaigns of abuse that intensify the trauma of October 7 itself.”

FOA founder and CEO Tomer Aldubi warned that “antisemitism and extreme hatred against Jews, Zionists and Israelis have spread around the world at a dizzying pace since October 7. We must not give up or remain silent.”