Claim: A video shows Palestinians celebrating Iran’s 13 April attack on Israel at the al-Aqsa mosque
Fact: The video does not show Palestinians celebrating Iran’s retaliatory drone attack on Israel. In fact, the video is from a week before the attacks, the last Friday of Ramazan, a day that is observed throughout the Muslim world before the end of the holy month.
On 14 April, X user @AhmadFarhadReal posted a video apparently showing Palestinians gathered at the al-Aqsa mosque celebrating Iran’s drone attack on Israel. “Scenes outside Aqsa mosque after Iranian drones attack on Israel. Drones will take several hours to hit Israel. #Iran,” said the post, suggesting that those gathered were waiting for missiles and drones from Iran to reach and hit Israel.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search of keyframes from the video and found a relevant Instagram post from 7 April. According to the caption, translated from Turkish into English, the video is from when “Approximately 200 thousand Muslims came together and prayed in Masjid al-Aqsa and also wished freedom for #gaza,” where Israel has killed at least 34,000 Palestinians since the start of the current war on 7 October 2023.
Some of the keyframes mentioned above match scenes from the video on Instagram. We can see the large “6” under the second golden archway and people’s raised hands holding their phones and recording the emotionally charged scenes in both videos, suggesting that the footage is identical.
To investigate further, Soch Fact Check conducted a Google search with the keyword, “al Aqsa” and narrowed the timeframe of the results from 1-12 April. The results included a YouTube video posted by the Hindustan Times on 6 April.
The video report titled, “‘All For You, Oh Al-Aqsa!’: Israeli Forces Attack Palestinians With Teargas During Protests,” shows Palestinian Muslims gathered in the courtyard of the al-Aqsa mosque, reportedly chanting slogans for the liberation of the third holiest site for Muslims. Clashes ensued as Israeli security forces teargassed the Palestinian worshippers, according to the report.
Soch Fact Check noted similarities between the report by the Hindustan Times, the video shared on Instagram, and the video being fact-checked, such as the angle of the footage showing the “6” under the second archway and the raised phones, indicating that the worshippers gathered on 5 April.
Furthermore, several publications, such as the New York Times and Al Jazeera reported on the gathering, posting footage from different angles.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that the viral video does not show Palestinians celebrating Iran’s recent drone attack on Israel. The video predates the attack, and we found multiple publications reporting on the event and showing Palestinian Muslim worshippers observing the last Friday of Ramazan at the al-Aqsa mosque.
Virality
The original X post with the video was viewed at least 113,000 times.
X user Farzana Shah (@Jana_Shah), a Pakistani journalist as per the description in her bio, shared the viral video here on 14 April. The claim was also shared on X here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the video was shared here, here. It was also shared here on 14 April, soon after Iran’s drone attack, suggesting that the video depicts a scene outside al-Aqsa in the context of the retaliatory attacks.
On Facebook, it was shared in the form of reels here and here.
The video was also shared on TikTok.
Conclusion: A viral video on X does not show Palestinians celebrating Iran’s attack on Israel on the night of 13 April. The video predates the attack and shows Palestinian Muslim worshippers, chanting for their liberation from the Israeli occupation, at the al-Aqsa mosque.
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Background image in cover photo: AlJazeera
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