| schema:text
| - Fact Check: Video of Israeli UN ambassador holding 'Butcher of Iran' sign is doctored
In the original video shot in September 2023, the Israeli ambassador to the UN was holding a poster that read, "Iranian Women Deserve Freedom Now."
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
Viral video is doctored. In the original video, shot in September 2023, the Israeli ambassador to the UN was holding a poster that read, “Iranian Women Deserve Freedom Now.”
Members of the United Nations Security Council observed a moment of silence on May 20 in remembrance of the Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials who recently died in a helicopter accident. Israel’s envoy to the UN called the gesture a “disgrace”, criticising the forum's alleged inadequate response towards the captivity of over 100 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.
In the midst of this, a video of Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, began making the rounds on social media, in which he can be seen holding a poster that reads: “The Butcher of Iran will not be missed.” Many shared the video, claiming that Erdan held this placard condemning the moment of silence held by the UN Security Council for the late Iranian President.
India Today Fact Check found that this is a doctored video. In the original video, shot in September 2023, the Israeli ambassador to the UN was holding a poster that read, “Iranian Women Deserve Freedom Now.”
Our Probe
In some social media posts, which shared a screenshot of the viral video, we noticed the Instagram watermark of the account “Diplo.act”. With this clue, we found this video shared on an Instagram account by the same username. Its caption stated that the video was edited.
A subsequent search using relevant keywords led us to multiple media reports from 2023 about this video. According to them, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, staged a protest as Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi spoke at the UN General Assembly on September 19, 2023.
Erdan held up a placard with a picture of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in 2022 after being arrested in Tehran reportedly for not wearing a hijab “properly”. The message on it read: “Iranian women deserve freedom now.”
Following this, Erdan was escorted out of the UN General Assembly hall by the security officers. Some reports said at the time that he was detained by UN security personnel. However, a UN spokesperson refuted this, adding that the Israeli official had merely spoken with security, and that at no time was he detained.
Gildad Erdan himself shared a longer version of the video on September 20, 2023, on X, in which the original poster can be seen clearly.
It is noteworthy that Gilad Erdan made a speech on May 21 calling out the UN Security Council for holding a moment of silence for Raisi, whom he referred to as a “mass murderer”. However, the viral video showing him walking with a poster condemning Raisi is doctored.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)