All India Parisangh (AIP) recently tweeted a video of a young girl screaming at an armed soldier and gesturing punches at him. The soldier subsequently walks away. The tweet was later taken down but an archived link can be viewed here.
NDTV India also published a report based on the viral video while adding a disclaimer that it could not independently verify the visuals. (Archive link)
NDTV shared the article from its Facebook page and Twitter handle. Though the tweet was deleted, the Facebook post is accessible as of this writing. Lokmat Marathi and Asianet also covered the video. A part of Asianet’s title reads, “Even Putin would feel defeated seeing this little girl’s spirit.”
A few social media users also shared a screengrab of the video linking it to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
An 8 year Ukraine girl confronts a Russian soldier telling him to go back to his country. This is courage simplicitta. pic.twitter.com/0CiT7JJdVg
— Ifedolapo Osun (@IfedolapoOsun) February 27, 2022
Fact-check
In the comments of one of the posts sharing the video, some users wrote that it is nine years old and the little girl was from Palestine. Alt News performed a keyword search based on this information and found a longer version of the video posted on YouTube in December 2012. The girl has been identified as Ahed Tamimi.
Another video of Ahed Tamimi, where she was seen slapping an Israeli soldier, went viral in 2017. Following this, then 16-year-old Ahed was taken into custody for eight months. Al Jazeera aired a video report on the activist in 2018, which carried a photo from 2012 of her confronting the army man. The report also states that she was only 11 years old at the time, and has now become a symbol of resistance. In 2012, Israeli soldiers had arrested Ahed’s older brother. This prompted her to raise her hand while yelling at the troops in protest.
To sum it up, the viral video is actually from 2012 and features a Palestinian girl confronting the Israeli army. It is not linked to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.
