There Is a List

About

There Is a List refers to parodies and skits of a November 2023 viral video in which Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson and Rear Admiral (RAdm.) Daniel Hagari is seen walking through a purported Hamas subterranean terrorist tunnel that exits in a Gaza hospital as he points out a calendar that he claims documents the terrorists' shifts guarding hostages during the Israel-Hamas Conflict. The video became the subject of criticism and was painted as propaganda among some online as numerous online sources refuted the claims that the calendar featured any of the information purported by Hagari, resulting in parodies and memes about the contents of the calendar spreading online.

Origin

On November 13th, 2023, the IDF YouTube^[1] channel posted a video titled "EXCLUSIVE: Inside Hamas Terrorist Tunnel Under Rantisi Hospital in Gaza" where RAdm. Daniel Hagari walks a camera operator through a purported Hamas-made underground base that is said to exit in a Gaza hospital. At the 5:30 mark, Hagari approaches a calendar hanging on the wall, points at it and says, "There is a list." He then states that the calendar is used by Hamas terrorists to mark their hostage-guarding shifts. The video gained over 900,000 views in a week (shown below).

The claim was refuted online that day by many, with Arabic speakers claiming that the calendar simply states the days of the week and does not showcase any names. For example, that day, X^[2] user @zoo_bear made a post purportedly debunking the claim, joking that the "names of the Hamas soldiers" are the same as the days of the week, garnering over 8,400 likes in a week (shown below).

Spread

On November 14th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @abu.ayoub.simply posted a video in which a parody version of the Happy Days theme song plays over footage of Hagari describing the calendar, garnering over 1.1 million views in a week (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[4] @iamaseyat posted a video debunking the claim that gained over 5 million views in a week (shown below, right).

The video became the subject of further parodies on TikTok over the following days. For example, on November 17th, TikTokers^[5][6] @ka12000 and @b_imen posted videos parodying the original, garnering over 1.4 million and 1.3 million views, respectively, in four days (shown below, left and right). On November 19th, X^[7] user @CensoredMen posted a video parodying the original, garnering over 22,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References