Fact Check: 2017 video of truck attack on Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem falsely shared as recent
Israel said the attack claimed the lives of four soldiers and wounded several others
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 29 Oct 2024 7:52 AM GMT
Claim: The video shows Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers being run over by a speeding truck near Tel Aviv recently.
Fact: This claim is misleading. The video shows an attack on Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem in 2017.
Hyderabad: On October 27, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was seen in a video addressing Israeli officials, discussing a strategic and measured operation over the weekend that targeted significant military systems across Iran. The strike came amid high regional tensions and raised the possibility of an Iranian response.
Amid this backdrop, a video claiming to show IDF soldiers being run over by a speeding truck near Tel Aviv has gone viral. The 42-second video clip shows a truck ramming a group of people before reversing to attack again causing bystanders to flee in panic and hide.
An X user posted the video and wrote, āBreaking News: Dozens of Israeli soldiers get deliberately run over by a speeding truck near Tel Aviv.ā (Archive)
Similar posts can be seen here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading; the video is from 2017.
Through a reverse image search, we found the video on YouTube uploaded on January 8, 2017, titled āJerusalem operation todayā in Arabic.
This indicated that the video was old.
Further, a keyword search led to a report by The Washington Post, which stated that the video showed a 2017 truck attack in Jerusalem.
The report stated that the Israeli officials deemed the incident a āterrorist attackā, which killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded several others.
Another report by BBC News titled āJerusalem lorry attack: Four Israeli soldiers killed,ā also published on January 8, 2017, had the same details.
The report stated that four soldiers in their twenties lost their lives and 17 others were injured when they were struck by a truck allegedly driven by a suspected supporter of the so-called Islamic State. The Israeli military mentioned that the victims were on an educational trip at the time. The attacker, identified as 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar, was from Jabel Mukaber, a Palestinian district in East Jerusalem near the attack site. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that soldiers shot the attacker.
Hence, the claim that the viral video shows a recent attack on Israeli soldiers in Tel Aviv is misleading. The video is from a 2017 attack in Jerusalem and has no connection to current events.
