In mid-October 2023, a photo of a box of penis-shaped cookies went viral on social media. The photo was accompanied by a caption that they were allegedly baked and sent to the military by representatives of the LGBT community in Israel. We decided to check if this story is true.
On October 15, the photo was shared by many large Telegram channels, for example “Truthfulness"(242,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Uncle Slava"(233,000), "Putin on Telegram"(202,000), "Bullet"(141,000), Z-News (133,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(132,000), Swiss Vatnik (129,000), "Banned"(92,000). Similar publications appeared in “VKontakte" And X (formerly Twitter), in Media and on forums.
The photograph shows two inscriptions: on a piece of paper in the foreground and partially visible on a box in the background. Native Hebrew speakers helped “Verified” translate both. The box says "Rabanut Tzvait", this is one of the structural divisions Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Its task is to provide for the religious needs of soldiers (both Jews and followers of other religions), as well as to provide clarification on matters relating to religion in wartime. In addition, Rabbanut Tzvait is responsible for supplying kosher food to the soldiers, which fits well with the fact that in the photo the soldiers appear to be sorting out boxes of food.
As for the handwritten note in the foreground, the phrase written on it can be translated as follows: “Fuck Hamas. Do you want to hear a joke about my penis? Sorry, it's too long. Thank you for your service. Ezra and Gideon Koehler."
As can be seen from the translation, the note does not mention any connection between the senders and the LGBT community in Israel. Moreover, before its appearance in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, photography became popular in Israel itself. Presumably, the first post on Facebook* mentioning a package from Ezra and Gideon Koehler (it was by mentioning their names in Hebrew that “Verified” was found by the publication) posted user named Talia Klein Perez. In her post, she did not write anything about the senders being LGBT activists, but asked to tag the Koehlers if anyone knows them in order to open a joint bakery. No one responded to the request in the comments.
“Verified” turned to Talia Klein Perez for comment and asked if she had learned any details about these people. Our interlocutor explained that she saw the photo on WhatsApp, where it went viral, and then decided to share it on Facebook. Perez also noted that this is a fairly typical joke and it is unlikely that any of her compatriots can see a homosexual context in it. The woman knows nothing about Ezra and Gideon Koehler’s connection to the Israeli LGBT community.
Both Perez and those native speakers who helped Verified with the translation noted that the handwriting is uncharacteristic for a native Hebrew speaker who has been learning the language since childhood. It looks too childish - according to our interlocutors, this is written by people whose first language uses a Latin-based script and who learn Hebrew in their teens and beyond.
Based on the collected data, “Verified” tried to find the Kellers on Facebook, but no suitable profiles could be found either with the spelling of their first and last names in Hebrew, or with different spellings in English.
“Verified” also studied the pages of the largest LGBT communities in Israel (LGBT Israel, Gay Israel, Queer Support for Israel And Celebrate Israel Parade - LGBTQ Cluster). And although the volunteers of these communities sent the IDF received parcels of food, including cookies; penis-shaped items were not among them. None of these groups have a public list of subscribers, so it is impossible to check whether people with the last name Koehler are members.
Therefore, the photo is most likely genuine. It began to gain popularity first on WhatsApp, then in the Israeli segment of Facebook, and only then on the Russian-language Internet. However, in publications in Hebrew there are no mentions of the LGBT community - apparently, they were added later, in publications in Russian.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
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