A 2017 video news report of makeup artists in Palestine has been edited out of context and is being shared to falsely claim that Palestinians are using makeup to fake injuries caused by Israeli attacks.
BOOM found that the video has been created by editing a news report on Palestinian makeup artists working on a project led by the French charity Doctors of the World. The video has been shared in 2018 and 2019 with similar false claims.
The video is being shared against backdrop of escalating violence between Israel and Palestine. Israel's forcible eviction of Palestinians from the disputed area of Sheikh Jarrah and its raid of the the al-Aqsa mosque on May 10 led to clashes between the two groups. Hamas responded to the raids with missile strikes with Israel counter-attacking with missile strikes of their own. The ongoing bombing has reportedly led to about 150 deaths till date with the majority being Palestinians.
The one-minute-long video shows makeup artists applying bloody makeup to children and men as a superimposed text claims that Gaza residents are using makeup to fake injuries.
The text in the video reads: "The new forgery of Gaza residents. They make fake blood, and paint wounds that are of course not real. All this in order to make the world feel for them to make Israel look bad"
The video is being shared on social media with the Hindi caption: Look at the acting of the Mullahs (derogatory term for Muslims) of Gaza. They are preparing injured and dead people by using makeup (गाझा के मुल्लो की नौटंकी देखिए । पेंटिंग मेकप करके घायल और मृतक तैयार कर रहे है ।)
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
An archive of the post can be found here.
BOOM also received the video on our WhatsApp helpline number.
Fact Check
In the video, a logo which reads 'Gaza Post' is visible on the top left. We then broke down the video into keyframes using the InVid video verification tool.
After reverse searching one of the keyframes on Yandex, we found this 2018 tweet by France 24- The Observers.
The French fact-checkers had debunked the same video in 2018 when it was being shared as anti-Bashar Assad activists faking injuries to accuse the Syrian government of committing atrocities.
The report also featured the original video made by The Gaza Post in 2017.
According to the France 24 factcheck, The Gaza Post had reported on Palestinians who were interested in makeup and cinema special effects. The original video is two minute and ten seconds long, has an Arabic voice over and features sound bites from two makeup artists.
The viral video features only parts where makeup is being applied with the voice over replaced by music.
A screenshot comparison of the viral video (L) and the original video (R) can be found below.
We also found a video feature report on Mariam Salah, one of the Palestinian makeup artists, by the Turkish public broadcaster TRT.
On comparing the videos published by The Gaza Post and TRT, it can be concluded that they were shot on the same day. The TRT report states that Salah and other artists were working on a project led by the French charity, Doctors of the World.