An image showing individuals wearing kippahs — a traditional Jewish head covering — pulling a person has gone viral on social media, claiming that Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are trying to tear apart a Palestinian child.
On last October 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in over 1,200 deaths and the kidnapping of more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel launched an attack on Gaza, which, according to the Gaza health ministry, has killed over 37,000 people, including 15,000 children, so far.
The Facebook post reads: “Israel settlers trying to tear apart a Palestinian child in the occupied West Bank. While that violence might be nothing new, there has been a spike across the West Bank since 7th October, when the war in Gaza erupted…”
The above post can be seen here. (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be false.
Running the Reverse Image Search, the NM team found the same photo on the Getty Images website, uploaded on September 13, 2009. The image does depict Israeli settlers, but in a different context.
The image caption reads: “Israeli settlers try to pull a fellow settler as he is dragged away by border policemen during clashes at the entrance to the illegal outpost of Havat Gilad, west of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, after Israeli police tried to confiscate a truck containing material to build a new house on September 13, 2009.”
This confirms that the image does not show settlers trying to harm the Palestinian child, as claimed. Moreover, this photo is not related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
According to Al Jazeera, settlers are Israeli citizens residing in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. They number over 700,000, making up more than 10 per cent of Israel’s population, and are distributed across hundreds of settlements. The Israeli government has funded these settlements, with recent reports indicating plans to “intensify settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.”
The United Nations Security Council and organizations like Amnesty International have also deemed the Israeli settlements illegal.
Although the photo shows Israeli settlers, it does not depict them attempting to harm a Palestinian child, as claimed. The image captures a moment when Israeli settlers were trying to prevent the police from dragging away a fellow settler.
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