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| - Fact Check: Video of car with Puerto Rico flag performing stunts viral as pro-Palestine activity
India Today found out that the flag in the video is Puerto Rico's, not Palestine's.
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India Today Fact Check
The flag seen in the video is Puerto Rico’s, and not Palestine’s.
Following former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal's call for a "Global Day of Jihad" on October 13, 2023, a video of a car performing stunts on what appears to be a highway has gone viral on social media. Social media users, while sharing the viral video, claimed that these were Palestinian protestors demonstrating against the Israeli offensive in Gaza. In the video, signboards reading, "295, Throgs Neck Br Long Island" and "Randell Ave" can be seen. Several cars stuck in traffic could also be seen in the video.
Text inside the video read, "Right here in New York on LIE" (Long Island Expressway), and "A car carrying men waving the Palestinian flag abruptly and dangerously stopping traffic to run 'donuts,' causing commotion and fear, distracting drivers and endangering lives!" A donut or a doughnut is a stunt performed by a vehicle, rotating its rear or front in a continuous circular motion, resulting in tires emitting smoke from the friction.
A Twitter user sharing the viral video wrote, "Happening now in New York after Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal calls for a 'day of jihad' on Friday the 13th and tells Muslims to 'take to the streets' in protest against Israel. Arm yourselves, be prepared for anything." An archived version of the viral video can be seen here.
India Today found that the video of the car stunts was shared with misleading information. The flag visible in the video is not that of Palestine but of Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island.
Our Probe
Performing a reverse search of the keyframes from the viral video, we found a tweet containing it shared by Tim McNicholas, an investigative reporter with CBS New York.
In his tweet, McNicholas explained that he was stuck in traffic for several minutes on the Cross Bronx Expressway near Throgs Neck because of the car stunt. The tweet was made on October 11, two days before protests across the US were organised in the wake of Khaled Mashal's call for a "Global Day of Jihad".
On October 13, when protests were organised in many colleges and campuses across the US, Twitter users informed McNicholas that his video was being shared, wrongly associating it with Palestinian protests in the city. In response, he clarified in a tweet that the road was not the Long Island Expressway, and it wasn't a Palestinian flag.
In his tweet, he wrote, "I have been informed people are sharing this saying this happened on the Long Island Expressway and that’s a Palestinian flag they’re waving. It’s not the LIE, and it’s not a Palestinian flag."
Under the same thread, he also shared a high-resolution version of the video, which had gone viral.
Upon closer observation, we found that the flag in the viral video was indeed not of Palestine but of Puerto Rico. The Caribbean island is an unincorporated US territory. Its flag and a comparison with the viral video can be seen below.
It’s important to note that we could not independently verify if the people performing the stunts were supporters of Palestine. It is, however, clear that the information being shared along with the video is misleading.
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