Video shows making of Palestinian movie, not Israel fabricating violence | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY

The claim: Video shows a child’s injuries being faked in Israel-Hamas conflict

An Oct. 9 post on X, formerly Twitter, includes a video of a boy lying on the ground in what appears to be a pool of blood. A camera crew and a number of men dressed as Israeli soldiers surround him.

"VIDEO SHOWING ISRAEL ATTEMPTING TO CREATE FAKE FOOTAGE OF DEATHS," reads the post's caption.

The post was reshared more than 8,000 on X. It was also shared more than 30 times in four days on Facebook, according to social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. A similar claim used the same video but claimed it showed Palestinians faking an injured child, accumulating more than 300 likes on Instagram before it was deleted.

Fact check roundup: Israel-Hamas war sparks many misleading claims online. Here's what's true and false.

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Our rating: False

The video shows a behind-the-scenes clip from a short film that was released online in April 2022, almost 18 months before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Social media users have previously shared it while claiming it showed actors fabricating videos of other acts of violence.

Video shows set up for movie scene

Video matching the clip that was shared in the social media posts was shared on TikTok in April 2022.

Director Awni Eshtaiwe confirmed to USA TODAY in 2022 that the video actually shows a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of "Empty Place," his short film released in April 2022 on YouTube. The film tells the true story of Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian boy who was convicted of attempted murder in 2015 for the stabbing of two Israelis by his 15-year-old cousin when he was 13 years old. During the attack, Manasra was struck by a car and beaten.

The clip in the social media posts shows the cast and crew of Eshtaiwe’s film preparing to record a scene depicting the aftermath of the car striking Manasra. The scene begins a little more than one minute into the film.

Fact check: Video of rockets firing at night predates Israeli-Palestinian crisis

The video is among several that have emerged on social media purportedly depicting events that began with Hamas’s surprise attack of Israel on Oct. 7 that are actually unrelated to the recent conflict. USA TODAY has debunked claims that a video shows Iran’s parliament celebrating the attack, that a video shows Hamas militants paragliding into Israel and that another video shows an Israeli airstrike in response to the Hamas attack.

USA TODAY could not reach the user who shared the claim for comment.

Reuters, the Associated Press and PolitiFact also debunked miscaptioned versions of the video.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows filming of movie, not Israel staging violence | Fact check

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