An old video of Lebanese protesters scaling a wall at the Lebanese-Israeli border is being passed off as a recent one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 17, 2023
A video of dozens of people climbing up a giant wall is circulating on social media with the claim that it shows the youth of Lebanon attempting to cross the Lebanese-Israeli border in support of Gaza. This is being shared in the context of the ongoing violent conflict between Israel and Palestine. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Video shows Lebanese youth climbing a giant wall at the Lebanese-Israeli border in support of Gaza.
Fact: This video is from 2021 and shows Lebanese protesters scaling a wall at the Lebanese-Israeli border to express their support for the Palestinian people who were attacked in 2021 by Israel. Hence, the claim made in the post is false.
To learn more details about the viral clip, we performed a search on the internet with relevant keywords. This revealed that the video has been available on the internet since May 2021, which is well before the first attack by Hamas on Israel that started the ongoing conflict on 7 October 2023. You can view the video here and here.
Attack on titan❎ Attack on Israel❎
" Lebanon at the Palestinian border"
…….#لبنانين_لن_أرحل#GazaUnderAttak#غزة_تحت_القضف#IsraelTerrorism #PalestineBleeding #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/ZenkVeVtv7
A further search on the internet to understand the context behind this video led us to a few news reports (here, here ) from May 2021, which shared visuals identical to the viral video. According to these news reports, Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in 2021, prompting protests by the Lebanese.
A photo of this event captured by Reuters journalist Aziz Teher shows visuals similar to those in the viral video. You can clearly see people scaling a wall, with some even holding flags in their hands.
To sum up, a video captured during the Lebanese protests at the Lebanese-Israeli border in 2021 against the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip is falsely shared as a recent video.