Old video of Israeli forces attacking a disabled man resurfaces as recent

What is the claim?

Amid the ongoing armed conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas, misrepresented images and videos have flooded social media. One such video shared on TikTok claims to show an Israeli officer assaulting a disabled man who was in a wheelchair. The same video was shared on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook with a similar narrative. Archived versions of such posts can be seen here, here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

Several such posts were shared in late October and early November 2023, implying that the incident from the video was from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

However, this video is from 2016 and was recorded in the West Bank city of Hebron. It is unrelated to the recent conflict. 

What did we find?

A reverse image search of keyframes from the video led us to several similar posts from 2022, some dating back to 2017. This showed that the video has been around at least since 2017. 

Screenshots of the Facebook posts with the visuals from the viral video shared in 2017 and 2022, respectively. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

We also found a news article by Israeli newspaper Haaretz titled, “Israeli trooper filmed pushing a disabled Palestinian to the ground.” This article, dated February 14, 2016, contained a screenshot from the viral video where a person can be seen pushing a disabled man in a wheelchair. The report noted that the incident occurred in Hebron in the West Bank, around the time when a stabbing attempt on Israeli troops was reported.

The report further noted, quoting a border police spokesperson, that the video was sent to the Justice Department, and an investigation was initiated. 

Comparison of the screenshots from the viral video and the Haaretz article. (Source: X/Haaretz/screenshot)

Another news report by the Times of Israel, dated February 15, 2016, also reported on the incident, noting that bystanders filmed an Israeli trooper pushing a Palestinian man from a wheelchair after an incident of a Palestinian girl attempting to stab Israeli troops. This report noted that the incident took place near the tomb of Patriarchs in Hebron and that the officer shot and seriously wounded the girl who tried to stab him with a knife.

A news report on the shooting incident published by the Palestinian Times identified the teenager shot by the Israeli trooper as Yasmin Rashad al-Zarou. This report noted that there were conflicting versions of the shooting incident where some claimed that the girl did not attack the Israeli trooper, and some said that the girl tried to attack the Israeli trooper.

This incident occurred in February 2016 in the West Bank city of Hebron. The video of a Palestinian man in a wheelchair being pushed down to the ground by an Israeli trooper while the man was trying to approach an injured teenager is unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. 

The verdict

The video of an Israeli trooper pushing a disabled man in a wheelchair is old. News reports confirm that this incident happened in February 2016 in Hebron, West Bank. This video is being shared amid the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.