Electrical substation presented as an “Airbnb” as Vlora fire fuels anti-Israel narrative

“Damn. A group of Israelis in Albania were kicked out of an Airbnb after the owner discovered that they were soldiers serving in the IDF. The next day, the place went up in flames. Coincidence.” — With this caption, the “Parody Jeff” account posted a video on the social media platform “X” on 22 August showing a building engulfed in flames and thick plumes of black smoke.

An analysis of the footage and the timeline of the posts tells a different story from the one presented in a satirical tone. The structure shown burning was not a property listed for rent on the Airbnb platform, but an electrical substation serving the Vlora water utility. The footage was recorded during the fire on 11 August in the Uji i Ftohtë area of Vlora, where it was reported that the flames had engulfed a water utility substation near the tunnel. Meanwhile, the Vlora Regional Water Supply and Sewerage Company JSC announced that the transformer at Station No. 2 had been put out of operation as a result of the fire. The water utility subsequently warned that the situation could lead to temporary restrictions or fluctuations in the water supply, while the cause of the fire remained unclear.

For international audiences, the electrical substation was repackaged as Airbnb-style accommodation. At the time of Amfora’s monitoring, the post that triggered the avalanche of disinformation was the one published by “Parody Jeff”, an account which states that its content is based on commentary, satire and imagination.

This post, which claimed that the people involved were members of the “IDF – Israel Defense Forces”, reached 1.3 million views, approximately 62,000 likes, around 1,200 comments and about 20,000 reposts, while many users took the scenario presented at face value. The analysis also showed that this “X” account regularly publishes material about Palestine and criticism of Israel, the United States and the Abraham Accords, while its reporting on Iran often uses claims or statements from the Iranian authorities as a starting point.

The video continues to be reposted by other channels that reach broad audiences, becoming part of a series of reports linking Israelis to the starting of fires in different parts of the world. “Israelis continue to start fires around the world…” was the headline of an AJ+ (Al Jazeera Plus) graphic. Its text explained that, on 14 August 2026, a fire broke out near Sellia in Greece. A 35-year-old Israeli citizen was arrested after the authorities suspected that the fire was connected to a barbecue used for cooking food near the villa where he was staying, during a period of very high wildfire risk.

Electrical substation repackaged as an “Airbnb” sparks a flood of reactions

“A group of Israelis who were reportedly serving in the IDF were asked to leave an Airbnb in Albania after the owner learnt about their military service. The next day, the property was reportedly engulfed in flames. It remains unclear what caused the fire and whether the two incidents were connected.”

With this caption, the “Hoot Republic” profile continued the narrative and posted the same video on “Instagram” on 24 August. The video featured the overlaid text: “IDF soldiers evicted from an Airbnb in Albania; property burns down the next day.” It received at least approximately 22,000 likes, around 2,700 comments and about 4,500 shares.

“Hoot Republic” is also characterised by a strong narrative and geopolitical orientation, with distinctly pro-Palestinian content that is critical of Israel and the United States, as well as material that, in some cases, aligns with narratives favourable to Iran and Pakistan.

Within seven hours of the earliest identified post, the video had moved across several linguistic spaces and changed context along the way. With each translation, elements were added to the claim that moved it further away from the actual event documented in Vlora.

Fayed Abushammalah, who has around 58,000 followers, reposted the story in Arabic through his account on “X”. Instead of the abbreviation IDF, the post used the phrase “occupation forces” and stated: “The homeowner threw them out when he learnt that they were soldiers of the occupation forces. The next day, a fire broke out at the site, in Albania.”

Turkish journalist Alpaslan Düven, who has more than 25 years’ experience and currently represents “Turkuvaz Media Group” in the United Kingdom, also reposted the video without verifying its authenticity, amplifying it and expanding the audience of the disinformation post.

Taken together, the reposts involved more than linguistic changes. Describing the alleged individuals as members of the “occupation forces” placed the story within the political framework of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Abushammalah describes himself as a Palestinian journalist and political analyst with more than 35 years’ experience and as a former BBC correspondent in Gaza. He is the first journalist identified in the monitored timeline of the claim’s spread.

Another post in Portuguese went a step further, stating that “Israelis set fire to an Airbnb property” and, in the same post, describing Israelis as “demons”. Amfora’s monitoring also identified similar versions in Spanish, Italian and Greek.

The spread of the story did not only alter the claim about what had happened in Vlora. In the comments and reactions monitored by Amfora, an unsubstantiated story attributed to several unidentified people was used to make generalisations about Israelis and, in some cases, about Jews as a whole.

One user called for Israelis to be prevented from entering Albania, while other reactions called for Israeli citizens to be banned or for all IDF soldiers to be arrested. In some comments, the language went further, using dehumanising descriptions of “Zionists” or calling for the exclusion of Jews as a whole. In this way, responsibility for a fire that had not been proven to have any connection to an Israeli citizen was shifted towards nationality and political, ethnic and religious affiliation.

The message posted by “Parody Jeff” was quote-posted, with the claim repeated in English, by a series of profiles on “X”, including “Global South News”, which operates as a news aggregator focused on South Africa and states that it is based in Moscow, Russia. The account has more than 254,000 followers.

“Paramotor News” continued reposting the video and identifies itself as a media account. An analysis of its content reveals a strong pro-Palestinian and Islamist orientation, amplifying material and statements from Hamas/al-Qassam, Hezbollah and actors linked to Iran.

Despite this trend, the reactions were not uniform, and some users asked for sources and evidence to support the story. One wrote that they had checked several media outlets without finding reports that supported it, while another warned that the leap from an alleged accommodation dispute to an accusation of arson was based on speculation.

Following the start of civic and environmental protests against projects in Zvërnec, narratives linking the protests to Israel were spread in parallel — entirely at odds with the reality on the ground. Social media users circulated claims about “colonisation”, a “second Gaza” in Zvërnec and Sazan, and hidden Israeli interests, based on manipulated content or material taken out of context. These narratives were amplified both by domestic profiles and by foreign accounts with an anti-Israel orientation.