Fact Check: Old video of pilgrims in Iraq falsely peddled as Palestinians evading Israeli attacks using Indian flags
The video shows Indian pilgrims in Iraq on their journey to Karbala during the Arbaeen Walk of 2023.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 5 Oct 2024 12:13 PM GMT
Claim: The video shows Palestinians using Indian flags as protection while fleeing from Israeli attacks.
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows Indian pilgrims in Iraq on their journey to Karbala during the Arbaeen Walk of 2023.
Hyderabad: A video circulating on social media shows several burqa-clad women walking with Indian national flags. The claim accompanying the video suggests that Palestinians are leaving their country while carrying Indian flags, allegedly because Israeli forces will not fire upon the Indian Tricolour.
An X user, boasting the influence of prime minister Narendra Modi worldwide, shared the video and wrote, āPower of our National Flag. Palestinians are leaving Palestine with the Tricolour in their hands because Israel does not fire at the Tricolour. Not just Israel, now no country on this planet dares to fire at the Indian flag. This is the power of the Tricolour and Modi.ā (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows Indian pilgrims in Iraq on their journey to Karbala during the Arbaeen Walk of 2023.
The Arbaeen Walk is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Hussain in Karbala, Iraq, marking the 40th day after his martyrdom. It is one of the largest annual gatherings of Shia Muslims in Iraq.
Upon conducting a reverse image search of the videoās keyframes, we found the video posted on August 31, 2023, by an India-based Instagram account, Falak Haq, with the location tagged as Najaf-El-Ashra, the holiest city of Shia Islam in Iraq. The caption suggested that the video shows the Arbaeen Walk of 2023.
We also found the video posted by other Instagram and YouTube accounts in the first week of September 2023, stating that the video shows the Arbaeen Walk of 2023.
According to an NDTV report from September 2023, the pilgrimage by the Shia Muslim community concluded in Karbala on September 6. Over 1,00,000 Shia Muslims from India travelled to Karbala to participate in the Arbaeen Walk. The report also featured an image showing a child wrapped in an Indian flag, being held in his fatherās arms.
We also came across an NDTV video ground report on the Arbaeen Walk from Najaf, Iraq, published on September 6, 2023. The report featured journalist Ali Abbas Naqvi speaking with pilgrims carrying Indian flags, who confirmed they had come from India to participate in the annual pilgrimage.
Moreover, we verified that the Israeli-Hamas conflict began on October 7, 2023, confirming that the viral video predates the conflict and does not show Palestinians carrying Indian flags.
NewsMeter has reached out to Instagram user Falak Haq for more details on the video and the story will be updated as and when she responds. However, we conclude that the video does not depict Palestinians with Indian flags fleeing Israeli attacks. The claim is false.
