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A Gaza-based journalist associated with PalPress continued a private exchange in which a well-known parody account proposed presenting children with cerebral palsy as malnutrition victims and using special-effects makeup to make wounds appear more realistic, according to screenshots published Tuesday.
Sameh Ahmed, who operates the X account @PalPress24, describes himself as a journalist and writer reporting from Gaza. In screenshots published in a September 22 thread by the satirical “Rabbi Linda Goldstein” account, Ahmed initially discussed producing documentary-style material before the fictional rabbi introduced increasingly explicit proposals involving staged victims.
The screenshots do not establish that Ahmed ever produced staged footage or altered an injury. They do, however, show him responding positively after the proposals were laid out.
From Documentary Films to “Actors”
“Rabbi Linda Goldstein” is a longstanding parody account that poses as the fictional “Chief Rabbi of Gaza.” The account has previously used private messages to bait politicians and activists into responding to deliberately absurd proposals. The Times of Israel previously documented the account’s satirical identity after it duped a New York congressional candidate. The conversation with Ahmed initially concerned producing media from Gaza.
Asked how they could create films capable of influencing Western opinion, Ahmed suggested documentary films about families, doctors and journalists, as well as short films centered on individual human stories and first-hand testimony.
The conversation then changed.
Goldstein told Ahmed that she knew children with cerebral palsy who “look very malnourished” and suggested they could participate. She added that she could obtain funding.
Ahmed replied that Goldstein could develop an idea and that he could provide pictures and videos and “create that.”
Goldstein then made the proposed deception more explicit, referring to the children as actors and asking: “So if I get the actors above you’ll film?”
Ahmed responded: “Ok.”
The reference to actors came after Goldstein had already explained that the proposed subjects were children with cerebral palsy who could be presented as malnourished.
Proposal to Make Wounds “Look More Real”
The parody account subsequently pushed the premise further.
In another exchange, Goldstein offered to connect Ahmed with people skilled in Hollywood-style effects who could make an apparent exit wound “look more real.”
The screenshots do not show Ahmed responding directly to that particular message.
But a later exchange was more explicit. Goldstein told Ahmed that a Hollywood makeup artist would be traveling to the Palestinian territories and could meet his contacts to “teach how to make the wounds look more real” and provide special-effects supplies.
Ahmed replied: “This is good work.”
The conversation then moved toward arranging a meeting. In the final portion of the thread, Ahmed ultimately declined after Goldstein told him that the supposed makeup artist used they/them pronouns and sometimes identified as a man and sometimes as a woman.
“Then I cannot meet them,” Ahmed replied.
No evidence presented in the thread shows that such a makeup artist actually existed, that a meeting occurred, or that Ahmed subsequently staged or manipulated images.
Ahmed Has a Documented Journalism Background
Ahmed is not simply an anonymous social-media account using a journalism label. His current X profile identifies him as a “Journalist & Writer” reporting from Gaza.
There is also independent documentation connecting Ahmed to PalPress. In September 2025, Italian publication Antimafia Duemila identified him explicitly as a journalist for PalPress.net while publishing an appeal he had shared through his @PalPress24 account. The article also linked directly to both PalPress and Ahmed’s X profile.
The publication has continued to carry material under Ahmed’s name. A June 2025 article credited “Ahmed Sameh” and stated that the material was taken from x.com/PalPress24, while another first-person piece published under Sameh Ahmed’s name cites PalPress.net and links to his X profile.
Ahmed Raises Money Through U.S.-Based Fundraisers
Ahmed also solicits donations for his family through online crowdfunding campaigns.
A current Chuffed campaign titled “Help save Sameh’s family in Gaza” tells Ahmed’s story and raises money for his family. Ahmed has repeatedly shared the campaign through his @PalPress24 account.
A separate GoFundMe is organized by Melissa Tone of Arizona. The campaign says Tone is fundraising for Ahmed and his wife, Camelia, and that money collected is sent to them in installments. As of the latest available page, it had raised more than $20,000 from hundreds of donors.
The “Rabbi Linda” account subsequently highlighted Ahmed’s crowdfunding activity and alleged that using an American intermediary to send money to Gaza violated U.S. sanctions rules and Chuffed’s terms.
Ahmed Accuses Parody Account of Deception
After the screenshots circulated publicly, Ahmed responded to Goldstein on X.
“Unfortunately, you are the one deceiving people,” he wrote, before accusing the account of attempting to suppress Palestinian journalism and saying such efforts would fail.
In that public response, Ahmed did not address the specific exchanges shown in the screenshots or explain his responses to the proposals involving disabled children and special-effects wounds.
The screenshots therefore document a conversation in which Ahmed appeared receptive to proposals explicitly framed around staged victim imagery. They do not, by themselves, establish that he actually staged victims, fabricated injuries or produced manipulated reporting.