An old video showing behind the scene footage of actors and make-up artists on a film set is going viral online with a false claim that it shows Palestinians faking injuries amidst the ongoing Israel Palestine Conflict.
BOOM found that the video was aired by Turkish public broadcaster TRT World in 2017 as part of their programme 'Showcase' while reporting about the Palestinian film industry.
The video shows a make-up artist recreating injury marks on actors as the latter look to the camera and smile.
The Israel-Hamas war entered its seventh day on Friday with more than 1 million people of northern Gaza ordered to evacuate, according to the Associated Press; reports claim that Israel appears to plan a ground offensive on Gaza. Israel declared a 'state of war' against the Palestinian militant group Hamas and ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza after Hamas launched an ambush attack on October 7.
Several old and unrelated imagery have gone viral in its aftermath dividing social media users.
The viral video is circulating with the caption, "Palestinian actors and actresses are doing makeup for propaganda video shooting. This is how the radical Islamists ecosystem works. Some terrorists kill the innocent on ground and some make ground to safeguard those terrorists." (sic)
Click here to view the post.
Another X user also posted the video with the caption, "Welcome to Islamic University of Victim Card. Here you can learn how to do full makeup and cry using chemical and then blame ISRAEL. This University has special discount for women and small children."
Click here to view the post.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on one of the keyframes in the viral video on Yandex and found a YouTube channel named 'I Love Israel' which posted the video on February 14, 2019.
The video was uploaded stating that the actors in the clip are Palestinians. We then took a cue from the description and ran a related keyword search about the Palestinian film industry.
The search led us to the same visuals uploaded by Turkish news outlet TRT World on March 2, 2017. The outlet posted a longer version of the clip which was aired as part of their flagship programme 'Showcase' - a show about art and culture around the world.
The visuals shown in the viral video can be seen from 24 seconds to 50 seconds in the original video.
The description with the video reads, "There are not many film productions in the Gaza Strip. But that didn't stop makeup artist Mariam Salah from following her dream. She taught herself to make fake blood for Palestinian films breaking into a business traditionally run by men."
The host in the video states that make up artist Mariam Salah creates horrific looking injuries on actors with the help of intricate make up. These artists were participating in a French charity project named Doctors of the World.
The host further says, "They hope to raise awareness faced by Gaza residents. Salah creates her special effects in two to twenty minutes depending on their size and complexity. But the young artist received no education to develop these skills."
The organisation 'Doctors of the World' is an international human rights organization providing emergency and long-term medical care to vulnerable people.