Video doesn’t show Palestinians waving Indian flags to evade Israeli forces

What is the claim?

Multiple posts on social media platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook claimed that the Indian tricolor flag is helping Palestinians to get out of Palestine safely without being attacked by Israeli forces. The viral video shows people walking with multiple Indian flags. An archive link of some posts can be found here, here, and here. 

The videos are captioned in Hindi, claiming they show Palestinian Muslims using the Indian flag to get out of Palestine, as Israeli forces are not attacking those holding it.

Posts claiming the video shows Palestinians waving Indian flags to escape Palestine. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the video is not from Palestine and is unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

What is the truth?

Using a reverse image search, we found that the video was posted on August 31, 2023, on an Instagram account @falak_haq120 (archive). The ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict began only on October 7, 2023. This proves that the video predates the conflict. Further, the caption of the video says, “Arabeen walk 2023🙌🏻”.

Fact-checking organization Boom spoke to the husband of the account owner, Ali Haq, who said, "This video is not from Palestine. It is from Karbala in Iraq, and I shot it on August 30, 2023. My wife is in the group of women walking, and we were doing the religious walk of Arbaeen from Najaf to Karbala." He also told them that he and his wife are from Bidar in Karnataka. Logically Facts has also contacted the owner of the account. This story will be updated if and when we receive a response.

According to Al Jazeera, the Arbaeen walk happens every year in Iraq, where people walk on foot for 20 days from around the country to the city of Karbala. This is to commemorate the 40th day following the death of Imam Hussein in battle in 680 AD, whose grave is in Karbala. According to Britannica, Imam Hussein is the grandson of Prophet Muhammad and is revered by Shia Muslims as the third Imam.

According to NDTV, lakh Shia Muslims from India traveled to Iraq for the walk this year. The report also mentions that Indian pilgrims were seen carrying Indian flags at times during the walk. Similarly, a report by Mid-Day shows photos of pilgrims with the Indian flag.

People carrying the Indian flag at the Arbaeen walk (Source: Mid-Day/Screenshot)

 A ground report by NDTV from Iraq titled, “Karbala: Arbaeen के मौके पर Karbala के रास्ते में Najaf शहर में भारतीय तीर्थयात्रियों से बातचीत” posted on September 6, 2023, also showed Indians carrying the Indian flag at the Arbaeen march.

 Report by NDTV from Iraq. (Source: YouTube)

The verdict

We have marked this claim as false as the video is from the Arbaeen walk in Iraq from August 2023 and is both unrelated to and predates the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.