Fact check: Viral photo is from 2016 incident in Chile
The claim: A soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces is pictured killing a Palestinian child
A photo posted to Facebook in June shows a soldier with his knee on the neck of a child is captioned, “An Israeli soldier kills a Palestinian child.”
“Let the picture roll around in the world to show Zionist brutality in Palestine,” the caption reads.
The author of the post did not respond to a request for comment from Paste BN.
Photo from Chile in 2016
A reverse image search of the photo reveals other fact-checks that have debunked the viral post, which is actually a photo of an incident in October 2016 in Valparaíso, Chile — not Israel.
El Dinamo, a newspaper in Chile, wrote an article about the altercation at the time that included a video of the incident on Facebook.
In the video, posted by an activist page entitled “Revolución Internacional / World Revolution,” the logo of the Carabineros de Chile is clearly emblazoned on the sleeve of the officer. Bystanders and voices in the background are also speaking Spanish.
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Israeli forces have harmed Palestinians
More: Israeli troops fire on Palestinian protesters, leaving at least 14 dead near Gaza border
Between November 2018 and October 2019, Israeli soldiers killed 131 Palestinians — 23 of whom were children — in the occupied territories, according to a report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In the same period, Palestinians killed 11 Israelis, including one girl.
The report concluded that there had been a “persistent failure to ensure accountability for allegations of excessive use of force by the Israeli security forces.”
So while there are documented instances of abuse by Israeli forces against Palestinians, this particular photo is misleading.
Our ruling: False
Our research shows that the caption does not accurately describe the scene that the photo depicts, so it has been rated FALSE.
Our fact-check sources:
- Google, Reverse Image Search
- India Today, “Fact Check: No, this is not an Israeli soldier killing a Palestinian boy”
- El Dinamo, “Denuncian impresentable abuso de Carabinero contra joven en Valparaíso”
- Revolución Internacional / World Revolution, Facebook Video
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”
- Reuters Fact Check, "Photo doesn't show an Israeli soldier killing a Palestinian child by kneeling on his neck"
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Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.