A video of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, speaking at a forum is viral with the false claim that he recently asked Indian Muslims to not interfere in the Israel-Palestine conflict. BOOM found that the claims are false and the clip from 2017 shows the Emir speaking about the oppression of Palestinians and is unrelated to Indian Muslims.
Hamas first launched a military offensive into Israel from Gaza on October 7, resulting in retaliatory strikes from Israel and a complete blockade of essentials to Gaza. The death toll of the conflict has crossed 4,000, as per official sources. The 2.3 million people in the region have been left with dwindling supplies as they make their way to the southern part of Gaza amid Israeli bombings.
The 7-second clip of the Emir speaking in Arabic is viral with the purported translation of his speech which is, "Indian Muslims should stop interfering in Arab issues. We do not need certificates from converted Muslims (accusing the Arab world of not doing much for Gaza). If they are so concerned about the people of Gaza, they should book their flights and save the people of Gaza."
Right-wing X account @ajaychauhan shared the video with the same caption in Hindi.
(Original text in Hindi: "कतर के अमीर: "भारतीय मुसलमानों को अरब मुद्दों में हस्तक्षेप करना बंद करना चाहिए। हमें परिवर्तित मुसलमानों से प्रमाण पत्र की आवश्यकता नहीं है (अरब दुनिया पर गाजा के लिए बहुत कुछ नहीं करने का आरोप लगाते हुए)। यदि वे गाजा के लोगों के बारे में इतने चिंतित हैं, तो उन्हें अपनी उड़ानें बुक करनी चाहिए और गाजा के लोगों को बचाना चाहिए"
BOOM analysed other false and misleading posts shared by @ajaychauhan along with other right-wing users on X. Read here.
Click here to view the clip 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 claims are false and the old video shows the Emir speaking about the oppression of Palestinians at the Doha Forum in May 2017. The captions of the video have been mistranslated to make the false claim.
A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video on Google led us to a clip shared by Al Jazeera Mubasher on May 14, 2017. The clip was shared with the title 'Emir of Qatar: The Palestinian issue is the issue of a people uprooted from their land and displaced from their homeland'
(Original title in Arabic: 'أمير قطر: قضية فلسطين هي قضية شعب اقتلع من أرضه وشرد من وطنه')
The portion of the viral video begins from the 0:27 part of the Al Jazeera video.
Here is a comparison between the viral video and the Al Jazeera Mubasher video from 2017
The description of the video, translated from Arabic to English, read, "Speech of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during the 17th Doha Forum held in the Qatari capital under the slogan “Development, Stability, and Refugee Issues”".
Taking a clue from this, we ran a search on YouTube for a longer version using 'Emir of Qatar Doha Forum 2017' and found a video uploaded by the Doha Forum's official channel on May 14, 2017 with the title 'Doha Forum 2017 Opening Sessions'. The video carried the full version of the opening session of the Doha Forum, a global platform organised to discuss issues of global significance with policy makers. The 17th Doha Forum took place on May 14 and 15 in 2017, in which the Emir gave his opening remarks.
BOOM had previously debunked this viral video when it was being circulated with the false claim that Qatar threatened to cut off its gas supply to the world if Israel continued to attack Gaza (read here). At that time, we reached out to London-based freelance journalist Abdulla Al-Khal, who translated the viral clip for us. According to Al-Khal, in the 7-second clip, the Emir was heard saying, "The Palestinian cause is a cause of people who faced expulsion from their land and displaced from their country." The clip did not mention Indian Muslims or their involvement in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.