Selfless heroes or self-serving terrorists? Social media reacts to White Helmets Oscar win

The Syrian conflict could be considered one of the most polarizing subjects of our time. Last night and in the early hours of the morning in the Middle East, that became highlighted on Twitter once again.

A documentary about The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, won an Oscar at the 2017 Academy Awards. Of course, people immediately went to social media to voic their opinions on the matter.

Some were promoting the Syrian search and rescue team, who are like firefighters but deal with the aftermath of bombs and shelling in addition to fighting flames:

#WhiteHelmets wins an #Oscar! Our deepest hope that this brings attention to #Syria and funds to @SyriaCivilDef pic.twitter.com/JN4wDfdNgX

— PHR Students (@PHR_Students) February 27, 2017

From the Arab world, this user wanted to send his congrats to the men of the White Helmets (he must not have realized that there are women involved in the efforts, too):

#الخوذ_البيضاء
نبارك لأبطال الدفاع المدني أولئك الرجال العظام الذين أنقذوا أرواح عشرات الألوف فوزهم بجائزة الأوسكار لأفضل فيلم وثائقي قصير

— أس الصراع في الشام (@asseraaalsham) February 27, 2017

We congratulate the heroes of the Civil Defense, those great men who have saved thousands of souls, on winning the Oscar for Best Short Documentary. 

Meanwhile, Muslim Twitter was overjoyed because the group’s motto is a Quranic verse:

"To save one life is to save all of humanity. We have saved 82,000 lives..." #WhiteHelmets #Oscars

— Muslim Girl (@muslimgirl) February 27, 2017

However, there was also a proliferance of tweets linking the group to al-Qaeda:

With their victory for "Best Documentary", the #WhiteHelmets become the very first terrorists to ever win an Academy Award
Congrats! #Oscars

— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) February 27, 2017

And, finally, there was someone taking a playful jab at Trump’s immigration ban:

Look at all these muslims trying to come to our country to...win Academy Awards! #MahershalaAli #AsgharFarhadi #WhiteHelmets

— Ayda Akalin (@aydasays) February 27, 2017

Are their search and rescue missions staged, or are they the heroes that should have won the Nobel Peace Prize? If they have rescued thousands of civilians but some members also tied to jihadist groups, what does that mean? Whether or not The White Helmets are all real, all fake, or linked to terrorism are difficult questions to answer. Viewing the group with skeptical admiration and being open to the good and the bad seems to be the best way to approach the matter. 

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