The death of Palestinian volunteer paramedic Razan Najjar, 21, in violent clashes along the Gaza border last Friday received international media coverage. This led to widespread social media accusations, blaming IDF veteran ‘Rebecca’ of being responsible for firing the fatal bullet. However, as Times of Israel reports, this is a demonstrably false claim.

The widespread claim led to threats against the IDF vet, a former American, as well as members of her family and even among some friends.

Rebecca, 24 (asked to not have her full last name published) was released from the army some two and a half years ago. She never served as a sniper when she was in the IDF.

Interestingly, the report continues by explaining the accusations against Rebecca may not have originated in Gaza or the area, but due to a woman from Chicago who has over 13,000 followers on Facebook. She posted the photo of Rebecca which was posted to the IDF’s official social media pages some four years earlier.

It only took a few short hours until the photo appeared on the “Freedom for Gaza” page, which has over 100,000 followers. The page claimed Rebecca “executed a 21-year-old Palestinian nurse in Gaza.” As of Sunday evening, the post has been shared more than 15,000 times, and translated into Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, French, Malay, and Indonesian.

The IDF has said it had launched an investigation into the death of Najjar, and said that at the time she was shot, the violence included “thousands of rioters” at five locations along the border, “burning tires adjacent to the security fence, and attempting to damage security infrastructure.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/IDF Facebook Page)