On the X platform, an Islamist propagandist handle, Tanvir (Archived link), renowned for sharing misinformation, published a video of Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas at schoolchildren. This video is being distributed amid the backdrop of the continuing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists, which has reached a critical stage. Since the beginning of the conflict, propagandists with a large following on social media have been spreading misleading material in order to alter the narrative in favor of Hamas and blame Israel for the violence.
The sole reason for sharing this video is to connect it to the present conflict. Tanvir captioned the video, “Israeli terrorists are carrying out atrocities on Palestinian school-going children in the West Bank. Israeli terrorists are forcibly halting young children on their way to school by setting up checkpoints. As a result, young Palestinian children are unable to attend school, and when they ask questions, the terrorists fire tear gas shells at them.”
Another verified user going by the handle name Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (Archived link), wrote, “Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank harassed by IDF soldiers who deliberately held the children at the checkpoint to make them late for classes. The kids become frustrated, and then soldiers attack the children with tear gas and stun grenades.”
Besides, the handle Ragged Trousered Philanderer (Archived link), who has been very actively spreading misinformation surrounding Israel and Palestine, wrote, “Palestinian children traveling to school via an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Soldiers deliberately hold the children at the checkpoint to make them late for classes. The kids become frustrated, then soldiers attack the children with tear gas and stun grenades.” The tweet has so far garnered 11k likes.
The handles like Morocco Strategy (Archived link) and Palestine Times (Archived link) also shared the video and claimed that Israeli soldiers are using tear gas and grenades on the school-going Palestinian students.
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At the beginning of our research, we initially focused on extracting various key frames from the viral video. We then used the InVid tool to conduct a reverse image search based on these key frames. This search led us to an article published by Neo-jacobin on May 31, 2006.
Looking through the report, we found a critical frame that looked a lot like one of the frames taken out of the viral video. This prompted us to compare the two main frames in great detail, which we did and found some interesting parallels. First, we saw that the wall in both pictures had the same brick pattern, and second, we saw that the viral video and the article’s photo both featured female students wearing white hijabs.
These two shared similarities sparked optimism that both the picture and the viral video originated on the same date. Subsequently, we conducted a thorough analysis in order to uncover additional similarities. In the viral video, we saw a man wearing a red jacket. Interestingly, that same man appeared in the photo that Neo-Jacobin posted on its site.
Furthermore, a female student wearing a jacket can be seen angrily pointing fingers at the soldier in the image provided by the Neo-Jacobin blog post. In the viral video, we spotted the same female student wearing the same jacket. These few similarities proved that the video that has become viral on the X platform is not recent.
Furthermore, during our investigation, we stumbled upon a report by Middle East Eye, which featured the same picture with a caption stating, “Palestinian students protest as an Israeli soldier points a gun in Hebron in 2005.” Employing relevant keywords, we initiated a search for the original video source on YouTube and successfully located a video uploaded by AP Archives eight years ago. The video began with scenes of students clashing with Israeli troops at a checkpoint, acting very irrationally, and trying to take down barriers. We came up the precise keyframe showing a soldier grabbing a student by his collar at the 41-second point in the video, which also happens to be the keyframe used in the viral video.
The information provided above makes it evident that the video is from the year 2005. Furthermore, we attempted to determine the reason for the students protest. Using keywords, we discovered many stories stating that in 2005, Palestinian children clashed with Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Hebron’s old city. The children were protesting what they saw as needlessly intrusive inspections of children on their way to school by Israeli soldiers.
On December 3, 2005, Palestinian girls confronted an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint that Palestinian children pass through every day on their way to school. A swarm of roughly 300 elementary school students crowded over the gate, chanting, “We want freedom to study,” and kicking the plastic barrier that separated them from Israeli soldiers.
Hence, the video is old and has no relevance to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. So, it could be concluded that the tweets made by the fellow propagandists using this video are misleading.
| Claim | Israeli Soldiers at West Bank firing tear gas on school-going Palestinian children |
| Claimed by | Tanvir, Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis, Ragged Trousered Philanderer, Morocco Strategy and Palestine Times |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
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