Did Israel's chief of general staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, accuse Algeria of being behind the Hamas attack on Israel? No, that's not true: There is no evidence he made such an accusation. Moreover, the person in the photo circulating with the claim is the former chief of general staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi.
The claim appeared in a video that's no longer available on TikTok but is archived here. It was published by @mashahirtiktok12 on October 8, 2023, under the title "breaking and dangerous" (translated from Arabic to English by Lead Stories staff). The text on the video continued (also translated by Lead Stories):
The Israeli Chief of General Staff, now: Algeria is the one that gave Hamas the green light to attack us and they set the plan and timing of the attack. But our response will be very cruel. When we get done with the so-called Hamas movement, we will turn to Algerians, and then you will have only yourselves to blame.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Oct 11 11:23:40 2023 UTC)
The claim has gone viral on TikTok, with many accounts publishing the claim. Some examples are: here, here and here. These claims started circulating on after Hamas launched a massive attack from Gaza on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. Israel responded with Operation Swords of Iron, conducting extensive strikes in Gaza.
The videos on TikTok claiming that Israel's chief of general staff has threatened Algeria and accused it of being behind the Hamas attack used a photo of Kochavi, who ended his four-year term on January 16, 2023. The current Israeli chief of general staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is Lt Gen. Halevi.
(Source: IDF website, taken on Wed Oct 11 12:07:00 2023 UTC, from left to right: Herzi Halevi and Aviv Kochavi)
Algeria has been known for its support for the Palestinian territories. After Israel's Swords of Iron operation, Algeria condemned the air strikes on Gaza and described it as "blatant violation of all international laws."
A Google search, conducted on October 10, 2023, with the keywords "Israel," "chief of general staff," "Algeria," "green light" and "Hamas" (archived here), found no credible reports from any national and international news outlets that confirmed the claim. Lead Stories also checked the official websites of Israel's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 10, 2023. Nowhere was such a statement by Israel's chief of general staff regarding Algeria and its relation to the Hamas attack mentioned.
