Facebook pages that regularly discuss news and politics posted over 115,000 times about the violence in Israel and Gaza from October 7 through November 26, earning more than 53 million total interactions on these posts.

Ideologically nonaligned pages accounted for the largest portion of these posts, sharing roughly 55% of the posts on the topic during the study period (or 64,000), but earning only 32% of total interactions (17 million). Right-leaning pages, meanwhile, shared just 37% of posts (or 42,000), but earned roughly 56% of total interactions — or nearly 30 million. Left-leaning pages shared less than 8% of posts about the violence in Israel and Gaza (or just over 9,000), and earned just 12% of total interactions (6 million). 

Posts from right-leaning pages also accounted for half of the 10 related posts that earned the most total interactions. These five posts included a video from Fox News host Jesse Watters, in which Watters mocked Biden’s expressed concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia, and a video from BlazeTV host Glenn Beck, in which Beck claimed that “massive groups” of people around the world “marched for” and “celebrated the terrorists,” suggesting protestors are “dangerous and evil themselves.” These videos were viewed nearly 8 million and 2.3 million times, respectively. 

Both Watters and Beck are among the right-wing figures who have repeatedly used anti-Muslim and violent anti-Palestinian rhetoric during their shows and in social media posts since October 7. During the November 1 edition of The Five, Watters said, “I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world. … We’ve had it with them.” On October 16, Beck told his audience that Israel should make Gaza into a “parking lot.”

The other three posts were from The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, evangelical leader Franklin Graham, and podcaster Wayne Dupree. Dupree’s post featured a video captioned, “Israeli family held captive by Hamas, children forced to watch execution of sister: ‘I wanted her to stay alive,’ the young boy cries out.”

Media Matters found that right-wing outlets — including The Daily Wire, Blaze Media, and The Western Journal — promoted their articles and videos on Facebook across their networks of pages. The Daily Wire, for example, posted over 5,000 times across 11 pages, earning at least 5.9 million total interactions on its posts about the violence in Israel and Gaza. Blaze Media posted over 3,000 times across 12 pages, earning at least 1.5 million total interactions on the related posts. The Western Journal posted over 4,000 times across 22 pages, earning at least 353,000 total interactions on its posts.

These right-wing networks pushed anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim content, such as posts about former President Donald Trump’s and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ calls to ban refugees from Gaza from the country and about a bill from Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) to expel “newly arrived Palestinians” from the country.

Content from these pages also dismissed concerns about rising Islamophobia, despite numerous recent reported instances of violence and harassment against Muslims, Palestinians, and people of other Arabic groups.

Additionally, they even condemned Biden for sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, with TheBlaze further condemning him for supporting a two-state solution.

These networks also shared numerous articles expressing opposition to a ceasefire. On November 15, Reuters reported that “some 68% of respondents” in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on October 12 and 13 said they “agreed with a statement that ‘Israel should call a ceasefire and try to negotiate.’” Reuters also noted that “half of Republicans in the poll supported the idea of a ceasefire.”

In right-wing and pro-Trump Facebook groups, users reacted to the violence in Israel and in Gaza with hateful rhetoric aimed at Muslim and Palestinian people. One user described Islam as a “cult,” while another shared an image that read, “Everything I need to know about islam, I learned in five minutes on 9/11/2001.” Users also attacked Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, calling her “terrorist loving,” “part of the Hamas network,” and a “miserable c*nt.”

Facebook also allowed users in groups to post content excusing and even encouraging violence against Palestinian people. One user wrote, “Israel is not deliberately killing a population. They are killing the sick inhuman population in Gaza that have lost their definition of human beings.” Others claimed that “Israel should raze Gaza to the ground” or “level Gaza” and “blow up the mosque on the temple mound” as “punishment.” 

Facebook also allowed users in groups to amplify antisemitic rhetoric. One user suggested that Jewish people’s “rejection of Jesus and the violent attack on Israel” are “connected,” while another shared a link to a Rumble video from right-wing outlet LFA TV making similar claims.

Users in right-wing and pro-Trump Facebook groups also fearmongered that “the end times are among us,” and that “Only a miracle can keep us from WWIII.”

Using CrowdTangle, Media Matters compiled a list of 1,486 Facebook pages that frequently posted about U.S. politics from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022. For an explanation of how we compiled pages and identified them as right-leaning, left-leaning, or ideologically nonaligned, see the methodology here. 

Using CrowdTangle, Media Matters compiled all posts about the violence in Israel and Gaza from the pages on this list that were posted between October 7, 2023, at 12 a.m. ET and November 26, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET. We reviewed data for these posts, including total interactions (reactions, comments, and shares).

We defined posts as being about the violence in Israel and Gaza if they had any of the following terms in the message or in the included link, article headline, or article description: “Israel,” “Israeli,” “Israelis,” “IDF,” “Hamas,” “Hezbollah,” “Gaza,” “West Bank,” “Palestine,” “Palestinians,” “Jew,” “Jews,” “Jewish,” “Islam,” “Muslim,” “Muslims,” “antisemitism,” “anti-semitism,” “antisemitic,” “Islamophobia,” or “Islamophobic.”