A viral video shared on X, formerly Twitter, purports to show an Israeli police officer allegedly strangling a Palestinian child to death during a recent protest at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
An Israeli police officer strangled a Palestinian child to death on Saturday during the protest at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/XsAWTtpCxQ
— Muhammad Abdullah (القدس في العيون) (@m_abdullah74) October 31, 2023
Verdict: False
The video is not linked to the current Israel-Hamas conflict and shows a 2015 incident involving two Swedish security guards who are accused of assaulting a young boy at a train station. A spokesperson for the Swedish Police Department also confirmed the video showed the 2015 incident in an email to Check Your Fact.
Fact Check:
More than 180,000 people marched across France Sunday to protest anti-Semitism amid the current Israel-Hamas conflict, according to The Associated Press. While French President Emmanuel Macron offered his support for the protest, he was not in attendance, the outlet reported.
“An Israeli police officer strangled a Palestinian child to death on Saturday during the protest at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem,” the X video’s caption purports. In the video, a man wearing a yellow reflective vest restrains the boy, who can be heard speaking another language. The video has garnered over 100,000 views as of writing.
The video is not linked to the current Israel-Hamas conflict, however. Using keyframe analysis, Check Your Fact determined the video originally stems from YouTube and was featured in an Arabi 21 article from 2015. According to the outlet, a young Arab boy was assaulted by a Swedish security guard at the train station in Malmo. The security guard caught up with the boy after the boy allegedly did not pay for his train ticket, the outlet also indicated.
The U.K.-based outlet The Independent also covered the incident, noting that an investigation would be taking place. The guards, who had received 12 complaints, were employed by the Svensk Bevakningstjänst security company, the outlet reported, citing an article from The Local Sweden.
Likewise, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports supporting the claim. The Israeli Police also have not publicly commented on the claim. (RELATED: No, Video Does Not Show Hamas Killing Israeli Troops)
Furthermore, Check Your Fact did not find any reference to the claim made via the viral X video on the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem’s website.
A spokesperson for the Swedish Police Department confirmed the video showed the 2015 incident in an email to Check Your Fact.
“The clip shows an incident on Malmö central station in 2015. However, it’s not a police officer but a ‘ordningsvakt’ that makes an arrest, which is a special kind of security guard,” the spokesperson said.
Check Your Fact has also contacted the Israeli Police Department for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.