A false video purporting to document a recent incident in which the Israel Police are beating and arresting Christians at the Jerusalem church has been circulated. The video depicts policemen dragging and beating up worshippers.
The Muslim (“@TheMuslim786“), a verified profile on twitter wrote “BREAKING: The Israeli police are beating and arresting CHRISTIANS at a church in Jerusalem #Gaza_Genocide #Gazabombing #الهلال_مومباي #كتائب_القسام #فلسطين_الان #مستشفى_القدس #اعتذار_اسرائيل #الاتحاد_القوه_الجويه” after sharing the 30 seconds clip of the incident. The tweet was made by the user on Oct 24, 2023. The post went viral and received an about 122.5k views. The archive can be read from above.
BREAKING:
— The Muslim (@TheMuslim786) October 24, 2023
The Israeli police are beating and arresting CHRISTIANS at a church in Jerusalem#Gaza_Genocide #Gazabombing #الهلال_مومباي #كتائب_القسام #فلسطين_الان #مستشفى_القدس #اعتذار_اسرائيل #الاتحاد_القوه_الجويه pic.twitter.com/z2ZYMTuMjT
MintPress News (“@MintPressNews“) tweeted the same viral video on Oct 25, 2023 claiming that the video footage shows Palestinian Christians being beaten and arrested by Israeli police outside the Jerusalem church.
Footage shows Israeli police beating and arresting Palestinian Christians outside of a church in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/iRnm7MdxJj
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) October 24, 2023
Many other accounts on twitter, including confused (“@coinssglobal“), Idris (“@7signxx“), @Lobnene_Blog, dejavu (“@dejavu_dejavu98“) also claimed the same regarding the incident that the Israeli police are beating and arresting Christians at a church in Jerusalem. They also tweeted the popular tags related to the current conflict between Israel and Palestine. The verified accounts contributed in spreading the claim to large number of users on the social media.
What is the Actual Truth About the Video? : Fact
In actuality, this is an old video that shows police taking action against individuals for disobeying guidelines at the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem in April 2023 during the Holy Fire ceremony. It has nothing to do with the persecution of religion.
An article was published on April 16, 2023 on the same incident. It attached the picture of the crowd of almost 1800 people from the ceremony.
The title “Christian faithful celebrate Holy Fire ceremony, Israeli police clash with worshippers over crowd limits” of the same article also clarified that there was a clash between the Israeli police and the worshippers over the crowd limits.
Video footage showed Israeli police pushing a Coptic priest against the stone wall, tackling a woman to the ground, and dragging and beating a number of worshippers. One elderly man, at least, was swept into an ambulance while bleeding. Israel has limited the number of attendees to 1,800 for the ritual.
According to Israeli police, they have a duty to enforce strict measures in order to uphold public safety.
Check out the original video:
D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1252
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) October 25, 2023
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: A misleading video that shows policemen dragging and beating up worshipers has been shared claiming that in a recent incident, the #Israel Police are beating and arresting Christians at the church in Jerusalem." (1/3) pic.twitter.com/qjkweCpGSk
Intent:
Old videos with exaggerated claims are being circulated by misinformation propaganda accounts in an attempt to set their propaganda over the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Conclusion:
Claim : The Israel Police are allegedly beating and arresting Christians at the Jerusalem church in a recent incident, according to a video that has gone viral and shows policemen dragging and beating up worshippers.
Fact : The truth is that this is an old video that shows police taking action against individuals for violating rules at the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem in April 2023 during the Holy Fire ceremony. It has nothing to do with religious persecution.
