A video of a pro-Palestine rally has been shared with the claim that the protest was held in Kerala, Wayanad, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.
Twitter user @ByRakeshSimha claimed that the rally supported Hamas which is designated as a terror group by the United Nations, US and many European countries. (Archive link)
This is not Gaza or Baghdad or Tehran. These pro Hamas jehadis supporting Palestine are in Kerala’s Waynad, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency. This is virtually a pro Hamas branch in India. pic.twitter.com/zfVRzunxg2
— Rakesh Thiyyan (@ByRakeshSimha) May 20, 2021
Several others on Twitter have made the same claim.
यह #फिलिस्तीन या #पाकिस्तान नहीं है केरल के मल्लापुरम में हमास की कार्यालय का उद्घाटन हुआ।
सोचिए यूनाइटेड नेशन और दुनिया के 160 से ज्यादा देशों ने #हमास को आतंकवादी संगठन घोषित किया हुआ है…!!#IndiaStandsWithIsrael #IStandWithIsrael pic.twitter.com/BdiZ1pQI4s
— राजेश केसरी (@rajeshk9835455) May 19, 2021
The clip is massively widespread on Facebook. A user named Jayadeep Kotian posted the video and wrote, “Hamas branch in India.” Facebook page ‘We support BJP & RSS.‘ shared the clip with a caption in Hindi.
Alt News received several requests to fact-check the video on its mobile application.
Fact-check: Video from Qatar
People in the video are raising slogans in Malayalam. We performed a keyword search on Facebook taking this as a clue and came across a Facebook post by one Anees Manjeri who shared the same clip on May 16. He wrote in Malayalam that Malayalis in Qatar participated in a local rally held in support of Palestine.
People are also seen holding the Palestinian flag in the video.
Several media reports stated that on May 15, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip, met with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. According to Qatari outlet The Peninsula, Haniyeh on Saturday addressed a solidarity rally near the Imam Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, where thousands had gathered.
We compared the building seen in the background of the viral video with an image of the Imam Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab Mosque on Google Maps. This confirmed that the viral video was taken during the May 15 rally in Qatar.
Qatar Living, another local media platform, also tweeted a video from the same gathering.
Thousands of people from different nationalities gathered yesterday in the Imam Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab Mosque square to express solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression. #Qatar #QatarLiving #savesheikhjarrah #palestine🇵🇸#قطر #فلسطين #غزة_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/v2r1CVb3C6
— Qatar Living (@qatarliving) May 16, 2021
Apart from this, several videos from the occasion were posted online, where the mosque is clearly visible.
A gathering in Doha, Qatar held in solidarity with Palestine, in which citizens of Indian origin also participated and raised slogans in Malayalam, was shared with the false claim that the rally was held in Wayanad, Kerala. It is noteworthy that India at the UN reiterated its support for the “just Palestinians cause” on May 16 while calling for an immediate de-escalation of violence and condemning firing from the Gaza Strip targeting the civilian population of Israel.
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