Fact Check: No, Shashi Tharoor did not support Hamas during a pro-Palestine rally in Kerala

Hyderabad: A video of a pro-Palestine rally from Kerala is doing rounds on social media, with users claiming that Thiruvananthapuram’s Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor’s presence at the rally is him extending support to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

As per the date mentioned in the video, the rally was held in Kozhikode on October 23 this year. It shows Shashi Tharoor, along with other leaders, attending the rally. It also shows several people holding banners which read, ‘Indians with Palestine’, ‘Pray for Palestine #FreePalestine’, ‘Stop the Palestinian holocaust’, ‘End the Genocide in Gaza’ and more.

The video is viral on Facebook also with the same claim. Click here and here to view the Facebook posts.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that during the pro-Palestine rally shown in the video, Tharoor condemned Hamas as well as Israel for killing civilians.

Upon a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found the video on Instagram, posted by the verified handle of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Taking this as a cue, we ran a relevant keyword search and came across a report by The Indian Express titled ‘Shashi Tharoor refers Hamas as terrorists at IUML pro-Palestine rally.’

As per the report, Tharoor was a chief guest at a pro-Palestine rally organised by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kozhikode on October 26, where he extended support to Palestine and referred to Hamas as terrorists.

The newspaper quoted him saying, “On October 7, terrorists attacked Israel, killed 1,400 people and took 200 hostages. In answer to that, Israel has so far killed 6,000 people. They have stopped the supply of food, water and fuel to Gaza. Hospitals are bombed. Innocent people are being killed every day. What is happening is the violation of war laws and the Geneva Convention, which have provisions for protecting innocent civilians.” He also stated the terrorist acts took place from both sides, Hamas and Israel.

A report by The Hindu said Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor drew onstage criticism from IUML leaders MK Muneer and MP Abdussamad Samadani for purportedly referring to Hamas as a terrorist organisation at the mammoth rally organised in solidarity with the Palestine cause.

We also came across a report by India Today titled ‘Shashi Tharoor no longer invited to pro-Palestine meet amid Hamas remarks row.’

The report said that The Mahal Empowerment Mission (MEM), an organisation of Muslim Jamaaths functioning in Thiruvananthapuram, decided to remove senior Congress leader Tharoor from its Palestine solidarity event, which was scheduled on October 30.

Hence, we conclude that the claim of Tharoor supporting Hamas during the pro-Palestine rally is false.