An old video of football player Cristiano Ronaldo voicing his support for Syrian children is viral online with the false claim that he recently expressed his support for the children of Palestine. BOOM found that the video is from 2016 and is unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The death toll of the Israel-Hamas conflict has crossed 4,000 since October 7 when Hamas first launched a military attack into Israel from Gaza. The unrest has continued to escalate after an explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza city reportedly killed at least 500 people. Both Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the explosion; while Hamas accused Israel of attacking the hospital, the latter responded by saying that it was a Hamas rocket that misfired and ended up killing civilians.
A video of Cristiano Ronaldo voicing his support for the children of Syria has been overlaid with a loud musical audio to claim that he expressed his support for Palestinian children. He is heard saying, "This is for the children of Syria. We know you have been suffering a lot. I am a very famous player, but you are the true heroes. Don't lose your hope. The world is with you, we care about you. I am with you."
The video is being shared on X with the caption, "Ronaldo Stand with Palestine. Whole World stand with Palestine. Free Free Palestine."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Facebook with similar captions.
Click here to view the post.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from December 2016 and shows Ronaldo expressing his support for Syrian children.
After carefully hearing the viral video, we found that Ronaldo said, "This is for the children of Syria" in the beginning of the clip. Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search on Google using 'Ronaldo expresses support for Syrian children' and found a YouTube video shared by Arab News on December 23, 2016. The video was titled 'Football star Ronaldo tells the children of Syria "I am with you"' and was an exact match to the viral video.
We also found that the same video was shared on Ronaldo's verified X account on the same date.
Below is a comparison between the viral video and the original video:
Along with the message, Ronaldo also made a donation to the cause as a former ambassador of Save the Children, a UK-based organisation working towards relief efforts in Syria.