“Look at the burnt tank. There are 10 dead soldiers there,” the taxi driver who picked me up in Tel Aviv said, handing me his smartphone. On the screen was a picture of an overturned tank going up in flames. It was the morning of July 20, and all of Israel was awash in rumors about dead and injured soldiers from the ground invasion of Gaza.
“Who sent you that?” I asked him. “Maybe it’s a fake? Maybe it’s Hamas’ attempt at psychological warfare?” The driver had a ready answer. “I have a friend at [Israeli news site] Ynet,” he told me. “He sent it to me with WhatsApp.”