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| - Fact Check: Old video of 2015 Swedish incident falsely tied to Israel-Palestine conflict
India Today found that the viral video is not even remotely related to the ongoing or previous Israel-Palestine conflicts.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is from a 2015 incident in Sweden and has no connection to the current Israel-Palestine conflict.
Misinformation surrounding the latest Israel-Hamas conflict is rife on social media platforms. Unrelated and miscontextualized videos, as well as outright falsehoods, are overshadowing genuine reporting on the ongoing conflict.
In this atmosphere, a video showing a man in uniform strangling a child is gaining widespread attention on social media. In this disturbing video, a man in a neon green vest is seen pinning down a boy on the ground, while the boy resists.
Several social media users have shared this video, claiming it as footage of an Israeli police officer strangling a Palestinian child to death during a protest at the American embassy in Jerusalem. It is further alleged that the boy was reciting the Shahada, an Islamic prayer, before his death.
A person who shared the viral video on Facebook wrote, "An Israeli police officer choked a Palestinian child to death on Saturday during a protest at the American embassy in Jerusalem. The innocent boy even recited the Shahada before his death." An archived version of one such post can be seen here.
However, India Today found that the video actually shows a Swedish security guard assaulting a 9-year-old boy at the Malmo city train station in Sweden in 2015.
Our Probe
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to a report by France 24, which included a screenshot from the footage. The report, dated February 2015, highlighted that two private security guards were under police investigation after violently detaining a 9-year-old boy at the train station in the Swedish city of Malmo on February 6.
The report further detailed that a private security guard employed at the station forcibly pushed the boy to the ground, straddled him, and covered the boy's face and mouth with his hands. During this distressing incident, the boy was overheard reciting the Shahada, a Muslim prayer.
The report explains that the security guard detained the boy and his 12-year-old friend after they were caught travelling without tickets. Both boys had previously run away from a care home, and after this episode, they were returned to their care facility.
According to a report by The Independent, Swedish police initiated an investigation into the case after the video of the incident went viral, and received twelve complaints about the actions of the security guards.
In addition, another report from the same period stated that the security guard was suspended while a police investigation into the incident was underway. The report also mentioned a nationwide fundraising campaign aimed at covering the hospital expenses of the boy's father, who was living in Morocco and needed surgery.
Other reports confirming the true facts and context of the viral video can be seen here and here.
It is, hence, clear that the video in question is more than eight years old and is not connected with the Israel-Hamas conflict.
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