Image ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ shared tens of millions of times on social media

This article was last updated on May 29, 2024

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Image ‘All Eyes on Rafah‘ shared tens of millions of times on social media

A vast valley with almost endless rows of tent camps and the slogan “All Eyes on Rafah”. The AI ​​image is being shared en masse on social media, almost 40 million times on Instagram in a short time. And the counter keeps increasing.

The phrase “All Eyes on Rafah” is not new. The slogan regularly appears on protest signs and on social media with photos of the situation in the southern city in the Gaza Strip. But this picture is different, as it turns out. It stands out and has taken off exceptionally well on social media.

“I have never seen it shared in this way before,” says communications strategist Rutger Tiesma. “People feel a certain powerlessness and perhaps also a degree of peer pressure. It is important to know that some people see that image everywhere and others not at all or less.”

Not happy with this image

A photographer from Malaysia called Chaa My captured the image using artificial intelligence (AI) after Sunday’s deadly attack on a tent camp near Rafah, unaware that it would bring tens of million people together.

“But there are also people who are not happy with this image,” the photographer wrote shortly after his design went viral. “Don’t look down on Rafah. Spread the word so that they will be shocked and afraid of all of us.”

Battle cry

The phrase “All Eyes on Rafah” is a call not to look away from what is inside the city plays. The slogan appears to be based on the words used by Director Rik Peeperkorn of the World Health Organization in February this year. He made his statement after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered an evacuation plan in Rafah, after which the much-discussed ground offensive in the border city could begin. “All eyes are on Rafah,” Peeperkorn said at the time.

Various organizations and lobby groups echoed Peeperkorn’s words in the following weeks. In addition, they were used as a rallying cry during demonstrations around the world, including in the Netherlands.

Nothing dangerous or controversial

Matt Navarra, a social media expert, says against NBC News that this image shows how activists use AI without breaking any platform’s rules. “It may bypass some of the automated moderation. There’s nothing dangerous or controversial in there,” Navarra said. “It’s interesting to see this breaking through.”

Although on social media the world seems to be increasingly united about the war between Israel and Gaza and there are calls for a permanent ceasefire, political leaders are not yet daring to use such words.

Following several deadly Israeli attacks on and near tent camps in Rafah, where 1.4 million displaced people have taken refuge, the so-called ‘red line’ in their eyes not yet exceeded.

Whether this image moves from online to offline and will therefore actually have an impact on politics, for example, remains to be seen, says Tiesma. “You see it everywhere, the question is: what now?”