Old protest footage misrepresented amid Israel-Hamas conflict
- Published on October 18, 2023 at 18:18
- Updated on October 26, 2023 at 17:33
- 4 min read
- By AFP USA, AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Natalie WADE
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"An astonishing image of Lebanese people climbing the Israel barrier with their bare hands," says an October 13, 2023 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post with more than 17,500 likes, reshares a video from TikTok of protesters waving Palestinian flags as some try to climb the fence.
The video was shared elsewhere on X, and other social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok, including posts in Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Thai, Portuguese and Italian.
Hamas gunmen launched a surprise assault October 7 that sent the region spiraling into war. The militant group killed more than 1,400 people -- most of them civilians -- and took approximately 199 hostages. In response, Israel bombarded neighborhoods in Gaza in a series of airstrikes. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed as of October 26.
The spread of the clip from Lebanon comes as thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of several Middle East capitals, in support of Palestinians.
But the footage is not new. The video -- which has been misrepresented before -- was filmed during demonstrations in May 2021.
AFP Beirut bureau journalists recognized the clip and a reverse image search using screen grabs from the video also uncovered photos and videos of the demonstrations that predate the 2023 conflict.
In a photo captured by Reuters photographer Aziz Taher (archived here), many of the elements seen in the video are also visible -- a concrete wall guarding the border and a building on a hill in the background.
The caption of the photo says: "Demonstrators gather during a protest to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, in Adaisseh village near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon May 15, 2021."
An additional photo captured by Taher on May 15 shows demonstrators climbing a metallic tower and waving a flag (archived here), similar to what is seen at the start of the video.
The 2021 protest followed Israeli fire that killed Mohamad Kassem Tahan, a member of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, who had been protesting against Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip at that time. Several other protests also took place at the border around that time, during which the video was most likely filmed.
AFP geolocated the exact spot in Adaisseh where the video was recorded by first conducting a search through the agency's photo archives. From the Israeli border, AFP photographer Jalaa Marey captured a photo in 2021 of the same building visible in the video.
Using the details seen in that photo, AFP analyzed Google Earth satellite images of the border area in Adaisseh to determine the exact location of the protest along a descending road next to the fence.
Seen in both photos is a building with orange tiled roofs and a winding road. The image below, taken from Google Maps, shows the identified elements, with a red "X" indicating where the video was recorded:
As the confirmed death toll in the Middle East continues to rise into the thousands, unsubstantiated claims continue to spread across social media -- an issue that experts fear could provoke real-world harm.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict here.
October 26, 2023 This article was updated to add an additional Reuters photo from May 15, 2021. Death toll was updated as of October 26.
October 24, 2023 Attribution of the caption of the screenshot comparing an AFP and Reuters photo was corrected.
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