2018 Footage of Israeli Soldier and Palestinian Child, Wrongly Presented as Recent

A video went viral on around social media, showing some security forces treating a young child quite harshly, causing the child to cry. However, a propagandist journalist named Sulaiman Ahmed, who is known for spreading biased information, shared the viral video and claimed that “Israeli IOF forces armed with rifles arrest 3-year-old children.” It is clear from his words that he is suggesting that this incident happened recently during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Propaganda activist Kashif Arsalaan also shared the viral video and wrote, Ruthless terrorists are not sparing even innocent children. What fault could this child have committed? He also tried to suggest that this incident happened recently during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

American Propagandist Jackson Hinkle also shared the viral video and wrote, Israeli IOF forces ARREST a three year old Palestinian child!

Another X user named Elias also shared the viral video and wrote, Israeli forces arrest 3-year-old children.

So, is it true that the video of Israeli Soldiers trying to arrest 3-year-old Palestinian children is recent? Let’s Fact Check.

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Fact Check

During our investigation, the first thing we did was to check the viral video’s authenticity by doing a reverse video search. In the process, we stumbled upon a report by IMEMC News (International Middle East Media Center), which was published on March 28, 2018. This report featured visuals similar to those in the video.

According to the report, a video was shared by a nonviolent activist named Raed Jihad Abu Rmeila, revealing a distressing incident in Hebron, a city in the southern part of the West Bank. In the video, Israeli soldiers were seen mistreating a Palestinian child, just three years old, and attempting to take him away. The child in question was Durgham Karam Maswada, who was in tears, in front of his home near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron. The footage also shows the child’s older brother successfully rescuing him from the soldiers’ grasp, who were holding him despite his cries. However, this incident actually dates back to 2018.

Hence, this discovery strongly indicates that the incident shown in the viral video did not take place recently amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. In reality, the video is from 2018, making it five years old. This means it has no connection to the current situation between Israel and Palestine.