Tim Flack: How over 100 Gazans quietly flew to SA, and how the story was twisted online

By Tim Flack

Arrival at OR Tambo

On a warm Thursday morning in Johannesburg, while commuters were inching along the N12, a Global Aviation aircraft rolled to a stop at OR Tambo International Airport. The doors stayed shut. Instead of disembarking, just over one hundred Gazans remained seated as South African immigration officials boarded the plane to verify each person inside. It was an unusual scene. A sealed aircraft, a full passenger list held in place, and officials trying to understand who these individuals were and how they had arrived.

The instant online narrative

Before the verification had even begun, a completely different story erupted online. South African social media commentators loudly declared that these passengers were refugees abandoned by Israel because their passports had not been stamped. Activists and NGOs repeated the claim with remarkable confidence. Within hours, a single narrative had settled in: Israel had stranded them, and this incident somehow served as fresh proof of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The volume of repetition replaced factual understanding.

What Gazans said: The real story emerges

None of those pushing this narrative knew who these travelers were or why they were in South Africa. The actual explanations came from Arabic-language Social media groups used by Gazans. As the plane sat on the tarmac, family members and neighbors posted clarifications and shared their experiences…