Dating apps are matching Israelis and Lebanese
Amid the skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israel at the southern border, many Lebanese Tinder users are seeing a rise in Israeli accounts on their profiles, The National reported on March 5.
It has been said that apps such as the aforementioned Tinder are getting confused by some form of GPS jamming which is resulting in people from the countries matching on a regular basis.
GPS jamming is used by Israeli forces in an attempt to stifle attacks originating from Lebanon.
A young Israeli army reservist has claimed that he wasn’t seeing any Lebanese profiles until after October 7 when Hezbollah ally Hamas carried out an unprecedented assault on southern Israel. Since then, Hezbollah and its neighbours have been involved in near daily clashes.
He said that he hoped to meet the Lebanese people he matched with on Tinder some time and commented on the possibility of being called up to the frontline.
“I’ve been in the reserves for quite some time, but if the army decides to get that maniac (referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah) in the north (of Lebanon), I request that my country calls me to arms once more.”
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Another Israeli user, from the northern city of Haifa, complained on Facebook that dating apps were now awashed with “Amalek”, a nod to far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s derogatory remarks on Lebanese people and Palestinians alike, claiming they are “enemies” of the Israeli state.
Lebanese users have also encountered the same dilemma as a high percentage of potential Israeli matches have popped up on their phones.
Leila and Maher, both Beirut residents who met on Tinder, have noticed the uptick in Israeli accounts that they see on their profiles.
Maher noted that such an incident has deterred him from continuing to use the app.
“Since the war started, I mostly see Israelis on the app, I barely use it anymore.” Maher said.
According to the French-language Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, Israeli Tinder profiles accounted for 60 to 62% of the total profiles in February in Lebanon.
The rise in Israeli accounts that Lebanese people see and vice versa have sparked the entertaining of a conspiracy theory that a trap is being set up by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to collect information on Lebanese nationals. Various tech experts have dismissed the theory as bogus.
The National/ L’Orient-Le Jour
