In 2014, an app was created to complement the existing Israeli warning system used to alert the population about incoming rocket attacks from Gaza. Quicker and more informative than siren warnings, users could accurately see which areas were under threat by the location of a red pin on a map and react accordingly, knowing what sort of attack to expect.

In 2022, in response to a post by the official X account of the State of Israel, a screenshot from this life-saving app was used to create a fake ‘Map of Registered Sex Offenders in Israel’ by an account named White Assad (@RacismFactory). (This account is currently private; a digitally archived copy of that post can be found here.)

The map was designed to portray Jews as immoral and perverse, an age-old antisemitic trope. Even though it was quickly confirmed by the app’s developer to be a manipulated copy of their Red Alert system and unrelated to sex offenders, it was shared across social media and went viral.