Did Mehbooba Mufti come out in support of Hamas?
The Israel-Hamas conflict has entered its 15th day, where Israel continues to bombard the Gaza Strip to avenge the Hamas assault on Israeli civilians. Meanwhile, a video has been widely shared on social media platforms showing the Former CM of Jammu &Kashmir and (People’s Democratic Party) PDP President Former CM of J&K, Mehbooba Mufti coming out in support of Palestine while holding the flag of Palestine in her hands. However, she is holding the country’s flag upside down. Social media users are fervently sharing this video and claiming that she is protesting in India in support of Hamas, a militant group.
Video shared by a Journalist
Journalist Sudhir Mishra shared a video on Twitter and wrote: “Why is Mehbooba Mufti shouting in India in support of Hamas terrorists? Hey, he also went and fought with the same terrorists”.
Other users also shared this video
Subsequently, several users shared this video on X(Twitter) making similar claims.
Fact-Check
To verify the authenticity of the above viral video, the DFRAC team converted it into some keyframes and reverse-searched it on Google.
Image of the video found on Mehbooba Mufti’s account
The DFRAC team found the image of the viral video posted on Mehbooba Mufti‘s official X(Twitter) account, with the caption: “Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered while the world looks the other way”.
Moreover, the video was also shared on the official X(Twitter) handle of News agency ANI, stating: “Mehbooba Mufti-led the protest in support of Palestine carrying the Palestinian flag”.
Palestine Ambassador to the UK represented Palestinian Civilians
We also found a video shared by Husam Zomlot, Palestine Ambassador to the UK on X(Twitter) in which he could be seen asserting Hamas as a militant Group, not an official representative of Palestine. The video was part of his interview given on BBC where he represented the Palestinian people, not Hamas. Moreover, he also expressed his grief over the loss of Palestinian civilians after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
Conclusion
DFRAC’s Fact-Check proves that the video shared with the claim stating that Mehbooba Mufti protested in support of Hamas is misleading as she has been been seen supporting Palestine, not Hamas. Therefore, the claim of social media users including Sudhir Mishra, is false.
