A video that has been widely shared on social media showing a purported Palestinian militant threatening attacks on France during the Olympic Games in Paris is a fake and could be of Russian origin, security sources and experts said on Thursday.
The video has emerged with France preparing to stage an unprecedented opening ceremony along with River Seine on Friday and some sporting action already under way since Wednesday.
The video, posted on social networks including X and Telegram, shows a man with his face covered by a keffiyeh scarf and only his eyes exposed threatening "rivers of blood" during the Olympics.
With a Palestinian flag pinned to his front, the man says such attacks will be retribution for what he describes as French support of Israel in its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the presence of Israeli athletes at the Olympics.
He finishes by brandishing a bloodied head which appears to be that of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.
But while the video was widely shared, many were also quick to cast doubt on its authenticity, noting it was not the style of groups like Hamas to make such videos and also questioning the quality of the speaker's Arabic.
"The French secret services and their partners have not been able to authenticate the veracity of this video," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said late Wednesday.
- 'False flag' -
A security source, who asked not to be named, told AFP "the first analyses point to a Russian operation under a 'false flag'". The source said "several clues" pointed to this interpretation.
A "false flag" operation sees attackers operate under false identities or without distinctive signs to deceive opponents, observers and potentially trigger an escalation of a conflict.
One of the first accounts to post the video on X, "@endzionism24", now suspended, was created in February but then remained silent for several months.
It was activated a few days before the video was posted to share content hostile to Israel, a typical pattern of inauthentic accounts used for propaganda and disinformation purposes.
The security source said that "the video was then reposted on X by accounts known to be part of Russian networks and was relayed by African sites known to be relay points for Russians."
These included "@aussiecossack", a pro-Russian account which has over 60,000 followers.
The man makes numerous mistakes in Arabic grammar and syntax while his pronunciation of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) at the end of the video was also widely mocked.
- 'Disinformation against our country' -
Darmanin said the sites sharing the video "were either pro-Kremlin or pro-Russian accounts".
He declined to attribute this to the Russian state itself but said it could come from a "sphere that might want to spread disinformation (against) our country."
He added that this "would lead one to think that it was manipulation."
According to the jihadist threat analysis website Site, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official based in Qatar, called the video "a montage of Zionist propaganda to denigrate the Palestinian resistance."
France has mounted a vast security operation to ensure the Olympics are safe. Around 18,000 French troops have been deployed to secure the Games in addition to regular police.
But authorities are also worried about other threats including cyber attacks and disinformation, with France seen as a particular target due to its support of Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion.
The Hamas attack that started the war on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
At least 39,175 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory.