Herzi Halevy Image & Video of Captured Ukrainian Soldier Circulated to Falsely Claim That Palestinian Mujahideen’s Captured an Israeli Commander

Kashif Arsalaan, an Islamist propagandist and a habitual fake news peddler, who has been actively propagating narrative in favor of Hamas terrorists since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, recently shared a 7-second video (Archived link) in which it has been claimed that the Israeli commander has been captured by Palestinian Mujahideen. In the video, in the first 3 seconds, an image of an Israeli commander is visible and in the next few seconds of the video, a soldier is shown being captured. While sharing the video, Kashif wrote the caption in Hindi, which translates to, “Terrorist Israeli commander captured by Palestinian Mujahideen, these terrorists only attack children and women.” After watching the video, it seems that the commander seen in the picture and the one who was caught are the same person. However, as it is a well-known fact that Kashif is known to spread false information, so we decided to fact-check the video.

आतंकी इसराइल का कमांडर फिलिस्तिनी मुजाहेदिन के कब्ज़े में,

ये आतंकी सिर्फ बच्चों और औरतों पर ही हमला करते हैँ। pic.twitter.com/hMZeU8VhXU

— Kashif Arsalaan (@KashifArsalaan) November 9, 2023

The same video along with the same claim was also circulated by the other Islamist handles. (Archived links 1, 2, and 3)

आतंकी इसराइल का कमांडर फिलिस्तिनी मुजाहेदिन के कब्ज़े में,

ये आतंकी सिर्फ बच्चों और औरतों पर ही हमला करते हैँ।#Gaza_Geniocide pic.twitter.com/8lQSfZtl7r

— Qayadat Network قائداتنیٹ ورک (@qayadat_network) November 9, 2023

आतंकी इसराइल का कमांडर फिलिस्तिनी मुजाहेदिन के कब्ज़े में,

ये आतंकी सिर्फ बच्चों और औरतों पर ही हमला करते हैँ। pic.twitter.com/mPpRlPZb66

— Zafar ali (@iamzafrali) November 9, 2023

आतंकी इसराइल का कमांडर फिलिस्तिनी मुजाहेदिन के कब्ज़े में,

ये आतंकी सिर्फ बच्चों और औरतों पर ही हमला करते हैँ। #Gaza_Geniocide #غزة_تزحف_الى_القدس pic.twitter.com/afRELlqqu4

— Romaan Shaikh (@RUMAANSHAIKH) November 9, 2023

Also Read: Hamas Supporters Spread AI-Generated Image to Portray a Defiant Palestinian Spirit Over a Shared Meal

Fact Check

To begin our investigation, we used the InVid tool to extract keyframes from the video and then performed a reverse image search. The first image, according to the reverse image search, is of Herzi Halevy, the General of the Israel Defense Forces. Halevy’s photo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is posted on the Israel National News website. After comparing the two photos, we discovered that Herzi Halevy, is the same person who was featured in the six-second video that Kashif tweeted.

Furthermore, we looked for “Herzi Halevy captured by Palestinian Mujahideen” using a keyword search, but we were unable to locate any reports. In fact, we found a news article published four days ago that mentioned Lieutenant General Herzi Halevy’s visit to an F-35 fighter aircraft unit. This certainly debunks the rumors that he was captured. Here, it becomes clear that Halevy’s image was falsely used to propagate this claim.

Moreover, according to details given in Tawassoul’s article, a report was circulating in the Hebrew media that General Yair Shalam, the leader of the attack on the Bureij camp in Gaza, had been captured by the Palestinian resistance. But, we could not trust Tawassoul’s report, as this website had also published Halevy’s photo under the false impression that it was of Yair Shalam engaging in irresponsible journalism.

Further, we searched for the keywords “Yair Shalam captured by Palestinian resistance” to find media report that supported this claim. However, rather than coming across links to reliable media outlets, we discovered links to many TikTok videos in which users have circulated the image of the Israel Defense Force General to spread the false narrative that an Israeli commander had been captured by Palestinian Mujahideen. Some media like Tawassoul that did cover this unverified news used Halevy’s image without conducting independent verification. Relying on these media sources is therefore questionable. Hence, it would be fair to conclude that the news of the Israeli commander’s capture is just a rumour. Moreover, whether anyone named Yair Shalam exists in the Israel Defense Forces is also a question now.

If the rumor of the Israeli commander being captured is false then who is the soldier captured in the video tweeted by Kashif? Using the InVid tool, we ran a reverse image of the second keyframe which took us to GoreCenter’s website. This website posted the same video of a soldier being captured with the description, “Russian soldiers beat and humiliated a captured Ukrainian soldier and filmed it all on a mobile phone.” Also, on the Wayback Machine, this page was archived at the date of March 18, 2023. Therefore, the video is old and unrelated to the Israel-Hamas war.

Therefore, considering the facts and information stated above, the claim made by Kashif Arsalan and other users is misleading. Users are circulating Herzi Halevy’s image and a video of a captured Ukrainian soldier to spread the lie that the Israeli commander has been captured.

Also Read: Israel-Hamas Conflict: Debunking Lies Spread by Opportunist Jackson Hinkle