A series of photos have been circulating on social media where a little girl appears to be getting fake injury makeup, after which she is seen taken on a stretcher by medics. These photos are claimed to depict Palestinians faking injuries to mislead international media and public opinion. This is being shared in the context of the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict. Let’s fact-check this claim.
Claim: The photos show Palestinians faking injuries to mislead international media and public opinion.
Fact: The photos are actually behind-the-scenes footage of a Lebanese short film called “The Reality.” Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
The initial investigation into the claim began by tracing the source of the photos in question. These photos seemed to be screengrabs from a video posted by a user named Ofir Gendelman, which we found on his social media platform X. Gendelman, as stated in his bio, is an Israeli PM’s spokesperson.
Upon finding and watching the video, it became clear that the video is actually behind-the-scenes footage from a Lebanese short film titled “The Reality.”
Another search was conducted online for more information about this short film. This search led to the Instagram account of a film director named Mahmoudramzi, who uploaded the short film on 28 October 2023, in which we can identify the same people featured in the viral screenshots.
Moreover, a further search led to the Instagram accounts of a few actors featured in the viral clip, who shared the short film on their Instagram handles (here and here). One particular user, rami.jardali, posted behind-the-scenes footage of the film on 29 October 2023, and tagged the film’s director, Mahmoudramzi, along with fellow actor Omar. The description under this post, written in Arabic, translates to “Backstage, Backstage 🇱🇧🇵🇸Reality🇵🇸🇱🇧.”
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In the past, too, Factly debunked similar claims about certain videos showing Palestinians faking injuries. You can find those articles below.
Old and unrelated video misrepresented as Gazans faking deaths amid Israel-Palestine conflict
Unrelated old video shared as Palestinian people misleading the world with fake injuries
To sum up, the viral photos claimed to show Palestinians faking injuries are actually from a Lebanese short film called “The Reality.”
