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| - Fact Check: Photo of Imran Khan's viral 2019 gaffe repurposed as ex-Pak PM defying Benjamin Netanyahu
A photo of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has gone viral, with the claim that he did not stand up to greet Benjamin Netanyahu. India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found this claim to be misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
This photo is from 2019 when Imran Khan was in Kyrgyzstan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. Khan broke diplomatic protocol by sitting even as other heads of state stood. The Israeli PM did not attend the event.
Supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan, and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have taken to social media to highlight the leader’s achievements following his ouster. Amid this, a photo made the rounds where Khan was seen sitting even as everyone else in the room stood to supposedly greet the Israeli Prime Minister.
The photo was shared widely on social media, with many claiming Khan’s decision to supposedly not stand up to greet his Israeli counterpart was proof of his fearlessness.
Similar claims are archived here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found this claim to be misleading. This photo was taken at Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in 2019, during an event where the Israeli PM was not an attendee.
AFWA Probe
A reverse search of the image revealed it was shot on June 13, 2019, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, held in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek.
At the time, this photo and the video from which it was taken went viral because Khan reportedly broke diplomatic protocol again by sitting while everyone else stood to welcome the head of state entering the hall.
As seen in the video shared by the official Twitter account of Khan’s party, PTI, the ex-PM walked in, went straight to his seat, and sat down while other leaders stood till each of the heads of state arrived. Khan stood up briefly to acknowledge his presence when his name was announced and sat down again, even as others continued to stand.
Prime Minister of #Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI's Arrival with other World Leaders at Invitation of President of Kyrgyzstan for Opening Ceremony 19th Meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan (13.06.19)#SCOSummit2019 pic.twitter.com/fYdKYN3Fv7 — PTI (@PTIofficial) June 13, 2019
We then checked if the Israeli PM was present when this photo was taken. Israel is not part of the eight-member SCO that includes India, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.
Israel is also neither part of the SCO’s four observer states (the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Mongolia), nor part of its six dialogue partners (the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey, and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka).
Our searches also led us to an Agence France-Presse fact-check from 2019 that debunked a similar claim. The report contained an official press release from the SCO that had listed the delegates in attendance. This helped us to conclude that then-Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was not in Bishkek for the event.
Hence, we conclude that claims of former Pakistani PM Imran Khan defying his Israeli counterpart by sitting while everyone else stood to greet him in this photo were patently false.
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