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| - Fact Check: Azerbaijan DID NOT display Israeli flag on tower amid conflict with Palestine
India Today found that the pictures of the illuminated Flame Towers of Baku date back to 2015 and are unrelated to the ongoing conflict.
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India Today Fact Check
This image is from 2015 when the Israeli flag was displayed on the Flame Towers alongside other countries' flags during the Baku Games in Azerbaijan.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas has already resulted in over a thousand deaths, with casualties on both sides. Amid this turmoil, an image of the illuminated Flame Towers of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority nation, was widely shared on social media.
This image showed three buildings of the Flame Towers lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag. Those who shared the photo claimed that Azerbaijan was doing this to show support to Israel. "The Azerbaijan government building projected Israeli flags in support of Israel. That is shocking from one of the middle-east countries," wrote a Facebook user while sharing it.
Another such post read, "The Israeli flag was projected onto skyscrapers in Baku, Capital of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan thus declares support for its old ally, Israel." The archived version of such a post can be seen here.
India Today found that the image is more than eight years old and unrelated to the recent Israel-Palestine conflict.
Our Probe
We reverse-searched the viral image and found that a Twitter user had shared the same photo eight years ago, on June 30, 2015, making it evident that it is not recent. The tweet’s text suggested the Israeli flag was displayed on the towers during the Baku Games in 2015, also known as the European Games.
A subsequent search led us to a Facebook post by the Azerbaijan Consulate General in Los Angeles featuring the same image, dated June 30, 2015. Its caption read: "Israeli Flag displayed on Flame Towers in #Baku honouring participation of Team Israel at European Games in #Azerbaijan."
Conducting an advanced search, we found a YouTube video dating back to June 2015 that showcased the Flame Towers adorned with flags representing countries participating in the Baku Games. Right before the four-minute mark in the video, the Israeli flag can be seen being displayed on the buildings.
We searched for news reports on whether the Flame Towers were lit up recently in support of Israel but found none. In fact, in a tweet, the foreign ministry of Azerbaijan condemned “violence against civilians in the Israel-Palestine conflict zone” and expressed condolences for the tragic loss of lives “both in Israel and Gaza Strip”, calling for an “urgent de-escalation of the situation”.
It's important to note that this fact-check report does not assess Azerbaijan's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Rather, it only looks at the viral image, and the evidence suggests that it has no link to the ongoing conflict.
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