Did UNRWA add a black stripe to its social media profiles, to mourn the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : UNRWA adds black stripe to mourn death of Yahya Sinwar
Right after news broke that Yahya Sinwar – the leader of Hamas, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, some people claimed or suggested that UNRWA added a black stripe to its social media profiles to mourn his death!
Leslie Kajamovitz : UNRWA appears to be mourning the death of Yahya Sinwar. All UNRWA accounts added a black stripe to their profile.
Adam Kinzinger : So @UNRWA and all its accounts now have a black mark of mourning. What are you mourning? Sinwars death?
Kevin Vuong : #UNRWA is publicly mourning Yahya Sinwar’s death.
This is the agency @HonAhmedHussen & @JustinTrudeau are giving 🇨🇦 taxpayer dollars to—one who mourns terrorists.
By choosing to continue to fund UNRWA, the Trudeau govt is choosing to fund terrorism. They must #DefundUNRWA now.
Modern Talmud : WTF?! UNRWA added a black mourning band to their profile pic on the occasion of Sinwar’s elimination. Defund UNRWA now!
Faes Saeb : ust in case it wasn’t clear to you what is @UNRWA, they added a black band to their logo yesterday! Mourning the death of #Sinwar, the head a terror organisation and the mastermind behind #October7thMassacre! What has @UN become under @antonioguterres?! This is grotesque
Truth : UNRWA added black stripe to mourn deaths in Gaza
Let’s take a look at the UNRWA black stripe, and find out what the facts really are!
UNRWA added black stripe as early as 22 October 2023
Let me just start by pointing out that the black stripe on UNRWA profiles is genuine, but isn’t new. UNRWA added that black stripe, as early as 22 October 2023:
As those screenshots show, UNRWA added that black stripe almost a full year before Yahya Sinwar’s death on 16 October 2024, thus proving the poster below false.
Unsurprisingly, people posting or sharing this misleading poster did not provide any evidence to back up this claim.
UNRWA likely added black stripe mourn death of colleagues in Gaza
While UNRWA did not officially mention why it added the black stripe in October 2023, it appears to coincide with its 22 October 2023 announcement that 29 UNRWA employees have been killed in Gaza since Israel started bombing the Palestinian territory in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.
We are in shock and mourning.
It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in📍#Gaza have been killed since October 7.
Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.
As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families.
In that 22 October 2023 post, you can see that the UNRWA logo has a black stripe. That appears to be the first known screenshot showing the UNRWA logo with a black stripe.
In short, the black stripe over the UNRWA logos has nothing to do with Yahya Sinwar’s death on 16 October 2024, and was most likely added to mourn the death of UNRWA employees in Gaza, and possibly left on to mourn the carnage and destruction in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel just kill 1,800 Hezbollah militants in Lebanon using exploding goats?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel kills 1,800 Hezbollah militants with exploding goats!
People are sharing a video which purportedly shows CNN anchor Jake Tapper reporting that Israel just killed 1,800 Hezbollah militants in Lebanon using exploding goats!
Shashank S Tripathi : BREAKING NEWS: First pager then radio and now Goat.
Explosions in #Lebanon reported allegedly caused by Israel , involved of goats rigged with explosives, leading to the deaths and injuries of several #Hezbollah members.
Praveen Kumar : BREAKING NEWS: Mass #Hezbollah Casualties Reported After Goats Explode.
#Mossad is everywhere to eliminate Terrorists around the #lebnan
Kimberly Reich : Shocking! : Mass Hezbollah Casualties Reported After Goats Explode 🇮🇱✡️
Mihir Jha : Is this true? 😮 Rectums of Goats exploding in Lebanon Kill!πg hundreds of Hezbollah fighters – This is a blasphemy act by Israel
Mr. Nationalist : 🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Mass Hezbollah casualties reported after goats explode in Lebanon. Hamas and Hezbollah are in shock now! 😲
Vekho P Ringa : From pagers to walkie-talkies, and now even goats? #Hezbollah situation now 🥸
ValluvaNayanar : BREAKING NEWS: Mass Hezbollah Casualties Reported After Goats Explode.
Truth : Israel did not kill any Hezbollah militant with exploding goats!
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating around the Hezbollah pager + walkie-talkie explosions, and here are the reasons why…
It was a parody video
Soon after news broke that Israel killed dozens of people and injured thousands more using exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by members of Hezbollah, some people started making memes and joke videos.
The video that people are sharing as “evidence” that Israel killed even more Hezbollah militants using exploding goats is actually a parody video (archive) created by Danny Polishchuk – a comedian with the X account @dannyjokes.
To be clear – Israel did not kill or injure anyone by inserting explosives into the rectums of goats, so that they would explode when someone has sexual relations with the goats. It was a joke.
He used an AI app (archive) to make the deepfake video of CNN anchor Jake Tapper saying that Israel killed another 1,800 people using exploding goats, before inserting himself into the video as a CNN journalist reporting on the incident.
Funny part about this is the AI app I used wouldn’t let me use Anderson Cooper because he’s a celebrity but didn’t consider Jake Tapper one
Frankly, even if the joke was not readily apparent, the static chyron and clock should be a giveaway that it was not a genuine CNN video.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel sabotage B&H Photo batteries so that pagers used by Hezbollah in Lebanon would explode?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel sabotaged B&H batteries to explode Hezbollah pagers!
Right after news broke that pagers allegedly used by members of Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon, killing and injuring scores of people, there were claims that Israel intercepted a shipment of pager batteries from B&H Photo and inserted Kiska 3 explosives as part of Operation “Below the Belt“.
The Hawk Eye / GoaChronicle : GoaChronicle through its intelligence network has learned that Israeli intelligence successfully intercepted a shipment of pager batteries that had been ordered from B&H Photo. The order was placed from Lebanon. Acting on a confirmed tip, the intelligence agency seized the shipment and covertly modified the batteries. Small, undetectable explosives known as Kiska 3 were inserted into the battery casings and connected to the battery wires via a discreet chip. The pager model was Rugged Pager AR924 IP67. The operation code word was ‘Below the Belt’.
The modified batteries were programmed to heat up and detonate when triggered by the chip. This chip was remotely activated by sending a common message to all targeted pagers simultaneously, causing the explosions. This operation demonstrates a precise and strategic use of technology, further highlighting Israel’s sophisticated capabilities in cyber and intelligence warfare.
Defense News of INDIA : MOSSAD successfully intercepted a shipment of pager that had been ordered from B&H Photo. The order was placed from Lebanon. Acting on a confirmed tip, the intelligence agency seized the shipment and covertly modified the batteries. Small, undetectable explosives known as KISKA-3 were inserted into the battery casings and connected to the battery wires via a discreet chip. The pager model was Apollo Gold Rugged Pager AR924 IP67. The operation code word was ‘Below the Belt’.
Truth : Israel did not sabotage B&H batteries to explode Hezbollah pagers!
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating around the Hezbollah pager attack, and here are the reasons why…
B&H Photo claim was satire
It appears that stories about Hezbollah purchases pager batteries from B&H Photo appear to be based on satire posted by Dovi Safier on 17 September 2024.
Safier deleted his satirical post after it was picked up and posted as legitimate, but thanks to a cached X post on Google, we have a fragment of his post:
When @bhphoto received a large order from Lebanon, they tipped off the Mossad’s Eli Kopter, who planted the undetectable Kishka 3 explosive …
Frankly, even that short post fragment has two obvious jokes that screamed satire. It is truly hilarious that any serious media outlet / analyst would fall for such jokes.
Eli Kopter = Helicopter
Eli Kopter / Eli Copter (Eli Cobter in Arabic) is a play on the Hebrew word for helicopter. It went viral as an Israeli joke about Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash in May 2024.
Even French-Israeli TV presenter Daniel Haik fell for it, quoting a Telegram channel in saying that, “The pilot pilot was a Mossad agent with the name ‘Eli Copter’, it’s not currently clear whether this is true or not, but that’s the rumour going around.”
Kishka is a type of sausage
There is no undetectable explosive known as Kishka-3 or Kishka 3. It appears to be a joke based on kishka – a traditional Jewish Ashkenazi food.
Kishka or kishke is a type of sausage filled with meat and grain or potato. In Jewish cuisine, it’s also known as stuffed derma, and traditionally made from flour or matzo meal, schmaltz and spices.
Below the Belt is an unlikely name for a Mossad operation
While not mentioned in the fragment, it appears that Dovi Safier joked that the name for the Mossad operation was called “Below the Belt“.
Dovi Safier also explained that his post was a “parody“, and “not meant seriously“. He also stated that he was shocked that any news outlet would run it as fact.
Earlier I deleted a satirical post mentioning B&H photo. This was parody and not meant seriously. I’m shocked that any news outlet would run it as fact, but apparently in 2024, the idea of fact-checking is dead. Thank You.
There is also no evidence that Hezbollah ordered those pagers, or their batteries, from B&H Photo. In fact, GoaChronicle updated its article clarifying that B&H Photo denied supplying the batteries for those pagers:
In a phone call to GoaChronicle and an email by B&H Photo post the release of the article. A representative of the PR firm of the company has informed us that they have not supplied the batteries for the pager.
Even though B&H Photo has stated that it did not sell the pager batteries to Hezbollah, it is likely that some people will still believe that they are lying, or in on the conspiracy too.
Anyone who bothers to check B&H Photo will quickly realise that it does not sell any pager battery. In fact, B&H Photo only sells lithium-ion battery for cameras, camcorders, notebooks and laptops.
The only rechargeable batteries available on its website are standard Ni-MH batteries in the AAA, AA, C, and D sizes. It also sells non-rechargeable alkaline and lithium batteries in the AAA size. However, none of them are used in the pagers used by Hezbollah.
B&H Photo does not sell pagers either
In addition, claims that Hezbollah ordered those pagers from B&H Photo also appears to be false – B&H Photo does not sell any pager at all! So it will be quite impossible for Hezbollah to order any pager from B&H Photo.
Hezbollah pagers were mostly Gold Apollo AR924
According to The New York Times, Israel intercepted and tampered with a new batch of Apollo Gold pages that were being shipped to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Most of the pagers were the Rugged Pager AR924 model (archive), but three other Gold Apollo models were also part of the same shipment.
Gold Apollo founder and chairperson Hsu Ching-kuang explained to reporters on Wednesday, 18 September 2024, that the Gold Apollo AR924 model was actually manufactured under licence by its European distributor – B.A.C. Consulting, which is based in Budapest, Hungary.
Explosives were planted next to the battery
The Rugged Pager AR924 lasts for up to 85 days using a replaceable lithium-ion battery. However, video footage of the explosions suggest that an explosive was used, and it was not just the battery.
According to The New York Times, the explosive material was not hidden in the pager battery. Rather, the explosive was implanted next to the battery in each pager, together with a switch that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosive.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel delete or lose 82% of its COVID-19 vaccine safety data, including reports of vaccine side effects?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel deleted or lost 82% of COVID-19 vaccine safety data!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claims or suggests that Israel deleted or lost 82% of its COVID-19 vaccine safety data, including reports of vaccine side effects!
Here is excerpts of the article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
Israel Blames ‘System Malfunction’ For ‘Accidentally Deleting’ Covid Vaccine Safety Data
Israel’s government Health Ministry has announced that 82% of the nation’s official data on Covid side-effects has been lost due to “technical errors and system malfunctions.”
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s office released a report last week criticizing the Health Ministry and revealing that the ministry didn’t process or analyze thousands of reports it had received about various Covid vaccine side effects.
The Comptroller’s office found that many of the vaccine side-effects were severe, including hundreds of women complaining of changes to their menstrual cycle, and thousands of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, the majority of which resulted in the patient needing to be hospitalized.
However, the Health Ministry lost these reports and according to the Comptroller’s office, it also did not investigate them in a timely manner.
In response to the damning findings in the Comptroller’s report, the Health Ministry said Tuesday that it had “accurately collected all reported instances of side effects,” before claiming that it had collected the data in a “new system” rather than in the ministry’s usual database.
Unfortunately, the “new system” allegedly “malfunctioned” and 82% of the official Covid safety data was lost.
Truth : Israel did not delete or lose 82% of COVID-19 vaccine safety data!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : COVID-19 vaccine side effect reports were recorded in different database
Let me start by pointing out that these claims are based on an article by The Times of Israel which reported that the Israel State Comptroller claimed that the Israeli Health Ministry lost 82% of COVID-19 vaccine side effect reports due to “technical errors” and “system malfunctions”.
The truth is – the Israeli Health Ministry was using a new and different computerised reporting system to handle reports of COVID-19 vaccine side effects.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry initiated the establishment of an additional computerized reporting system in order to facilitate the reporting, and at the time the monitoring continued in the normal system while manually monitoring the reports.
This was also mentioned in the same article by The Times of Israel, so there can be no confusion about the facts:
In response to the findings detailed in the report, the Health Ministry said Tuesday that it had accurately collected all reported instances of side effects, saying that it had collected the data in a new system rather than in the ministry’s usual database.
Fact #2 : COVID-19 vaccine side effect database did not malfunction
The People’s Voice claimed that the new Israeli system for recording COVID-19 vaccine side effect reports “malfunctioned”.
However, that’s not true – The Times of Israel article never made that claim. Neither did the Israeli Health Ministry ever say that its new computerised system “malfunctioned”.
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article did not provide any evidence that 82% of the COVID-19 vaccine reports were lost because the new computerised system “malfunctioned”.
Fact #3 : All Vaccine Side Effect Reports Were Checked
The Israeli Health Ministry refuted the State Comptroller’s report, stating that “all the reports received… from the HMOs were checked“. It explained that reports that did not contain critical information, or were not related to COVID-19, were “manually checked and analysed by its employees.
The Health Ministry also explained that it created a new form for reporting COVID-19 vaccine side effects, which was analysed by an additional professional team “in real time”. Those findings were then published in full transparency:
All the reports received on the interface from the HMOs were checked. Since there were dozens of reports that did not contain critical information or were not at all related to COVID-19, it was agreed that the reports would be reported manually and analyzed by the employees of the Ministry of Health.
In addition, in order to improve direct reports from citizens, during the pandemic, the Ministry created an identifiable form in which side effects after COVID-19 vaccination could be reported and recruited an additional professional team to analyze the findings in real time. These were also published in full transparency to the public.
The Health Ministry also followed reports of side effects “in real time”, which allowed it to be the first to identify and report side effects of mRNA vaccines like myocarditis, and publish it transparently to the public.
Fact #4 : Most vaccine side effects were minor
Interestingly, The People’s Voice article pointed out that the Comptroller’s office found that “many of the vaccine side-effects were severe“. That’s not true.
The Comptroller’s Office actually found that the “the majority of the side effects… were mild” symptoms like “low fever and pain at the vaccine site“.
Fact #5 : Israel Health Ministry failed to combat fake news
Ironically, the State Comptroller’s report criticised the Israeli Health Ministry for failing to combat “false information and anti-vaccination propaganda” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also noted that the Health Ministry’s failure to prevent anti-vaccine misinformation from spreading may have resulted in increased skepticism towards vaccines in general. The report suggested that the Health Ministry should work with the National Public Diplomacy Directorate to formulate a strategy to combat misinformation during times of emergency, like another outbreak or pandemic.
Fact #6 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Fake News
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel use WhatsApp to locate Ismail Haniyeh before killing him with a drone-fired missile?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel used WhatsApp to locate + kill Ismail Haniyeh
Some people are claiming or suggesting that Israel used WhatsApp to locate Ismail Haniyeh before killing him with a drone-fired missile!
Megatron : 🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israeli intelligence managed to identify Hamas politburo chief using WhatsApp messenger*
He was f**king using an app owned by Meta, which has a Jewish boss. Madness.
Lebanese journalist Elia Manier spoke about it. She explained that with the help of spy software embedded in the phone, the house where Hania was located was discovered, and then a rocket attack was launched from the drone.
S.L. Kanthan :Hamas leader was killed by WhatsApp 😳
Apparently, Mossad installed spyware on Ismail Haniyeh’s phone via a WhatsApp message.
The spyware sent his location to Israel, which used a drone to launch a missile.
According to Lebanese journalist Elia Manier, Israeli intelligence installed spyware on Haniyeh’s phone via a WhatsApp message. The spyware made it possible to detect the exact location of the house where the Hamas leader was located and launch a missile strike on it from a drone.
Manier claims that the malware is identical to the Pegasus smartphone hacking virus, which is developed and sold under license by the Israeli company NSO Group. It allows you to access messages, photos, location data and even control the phone’s camera and microphone without the user’s knowledge.
Earlier, Israelis wrote that a rocket was fired at the apartment where the Hamas leader was sleeping.
No evidence Israel used WhatsApp to locate + kill Ismail Haniyeh
This is yet another example of fake news circulating on social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Elia Manier does not exist
Many of these claims referred to female Lebanese journalist Elia Manier as the source. However, there is no Lebanese journalist called Elia Manier, male or female.
The truth is – it was Elijah J. Magnier – a Brussels-based war correspondent who made that claim. Magnier, as far as I can tell, isn’t Lebanese. Magnier is also male with he/him pronouns.
If these people cannot even get the name, gender, and nationality of their source correct, how trustworthy do you think they are???
Fact #2 : WhatsApp message to Ismail Haniyeh is fake
Some people are sharing a screenshot of a WhatsApp message which was purportedly used to install spyware in Ismail Haniyeh’s smartphone, which appears to be an iPhone.
While we have no idea whether Ismail Haniyeh actually uses an Apple iPhone – “evil” American product and all that, this WhatsApp screenshot is most definitely fake, because:
WhatsApp does not show the person’s profile photo in the chat. Instead, the video and call icons are on the upper right corner of the chat.
The back button does not have a Chats label. Depending on the version of WhatsApp being used, it is either empty, or shows the number of chats with unread messages (e.g. 34)
If the unknown sender was the Mossad trying to trick Ismail Haniyeh into opening the message, they would not likely message him in English, and so casually at that – “Hey what’s up, you arrived yet?“
On top of that, no one actually explained how they came by that screenshot. They certainly did not get it from Elijah Magnier, or the non-existent Elia Manier.
Did the Mossad published it publicly? Obviously, not. Did they obtain it from a Mossad insider? They didn’t say. Did they hack it from Ismail Haniyeh’s smartphone, which would have been blown to bits? That would be quite a feat…
What is certain is – that WhatsApp screenshot is fake, and the actual person who made the claim, Elijah Magnier, did not post it on his X account.
Fact #3 : Magnier never said Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a missile
On 31 July 2024, Elijah J. Magnier claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel used WhatsApp to introduce spyware into Ismail Haniyeh’s smartphone, exposing his location.
#Israel’s Use of Spying Software to Target #Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh:
Israel reportedly planted sophisticated spyware through a WhatsApp message sent to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. This software allowed Israeli intelligence to localize his exact position within his apartment. Subsequently, Haniyeh was assassinated following a conversation he had with his son, during which his location was pinpointed.
The spyware in question is believed to be similar to the notorious Pegasus software developed by the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group. Pegasus has the capability to infiltrate smartphones, allowing the operator to access messages, photos, and location data, and even control the phone’s camera and microphone without the user’s knowledge.
Such advanced technology enables real-time surveillance and precise targeting, making it an invaluable tool for intelligence operations. The successful use of this spyware highlights the ongoing cyber warfare tactics employed in modern conflicts, showcasing how digital tools are increasingly pivotal in gathering intelligence and executing targeted strikes.
Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination underscores the effectiveness of these methods and the lengths to which state actors will go to neutralize perceived threats. This incident also raises significant concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of such powerful surveillance tools for illegal activities and assassinations.
As you can see, Magnier did not claim that Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by a missile fired by a drone. So where are those people getting their information from, since their actual “source” never made that claim???
Fact #4 : Ismail Haniyeh was allegedly killed by a pre-planted bomb
In fact, The New York Times just published an investigation, in which five Middle Eastern officials confirmed that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a bomb that was smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he stayed, approximately two months earlier.
The bomb was then remotely detonated once it was confirmed that Haniyeh was inside his room. That’s why the blast only killed Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were staying in the same room, but did not kill people in the adjoining rooms. A missile would have caused far more catastrophic damage.
Two Iranian officials who were briefed on the attack, confirmed that the explosion took place inside Ismail Haniyeh’s room, and the initial investigation showed that the explosives were placed there sometime in advance.
Yet again, those who claimed that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a missile or rocket fired by an Israeli drone never provided any evidence.
Fact #5 : Elijah Magnier did not provide any evidence / source
While Magnier’s allegations that a WhatsApp message was used to deliver spyware is plausible, he did not actually provide any evidence to back up those claims. In fact, he didn’t even mention his source(s), or whether he managed to verify their account.
Now, I’m not saying that he should name his sources, but at least he should mention them – two senior Iranian officials, or a Mossad hacker, for example, so we have an idea of how credible his sources might be. Or whether he was able to independently confirm their account from a different source.
Magnier may or may not prove to be right, but those viral messages claiming that a Lebanese journalist called Elia Manier confirmed that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a missile fired by a drone after being located by spyware installed using a WhatsApp message are definitely fake news.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Russia just rescue hundreds of children from an Israeli ship trafficking them for the adrenochrome industry?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Russia rescues “Adrenochrome” children from Israeli ship!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claims that Russian special forces just rescued hundreds of children from an Israeli ship trafficking them for the adrenochrome industry!
Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
Putin’s Adrenochrome Taskforce Intercept Israeli Ship Trafficking Hundreds of Kids
Russian special forces have liberated dozens of children from an Israeli-registered ship, as President Putin’s war against the global adrenochrome industry kicks into high gear.
Following the discovery of a factory farm operation in Ukraine, Putin formed an “adrenochrome task force” of special agents and handpicked Spetznas to deal with the growing crisis.
According to reports, Israeli-registered ship was apprehended within the Russian sphere of influence in the Black Sea on July 10, and children were being held captive in atrocious conditions.
Hardened Russian soldiers who thought they had seen it all fought tears as they described the horrors of finding so many children with fragile, emaciated bodies hooked up to intravenous drips while their bodies were expertly drained of blood and adrenal fluid for the global adrenochrome trade operating out of Israel.
This is a significant discovery and Putin is determined to use the leads generated to destroy the global adrenochrome supply chain and punish those committing crimes against children.
According to the Kremlin, President Zelensky’s Kiev regime has been earning hundreds of millions of dollars per year by raising children in degrading factory farm conditions and selling them to the highest bidder on the international market – no questions asked.
As Putin explains, the Western elite have been stuffing their bellies with human flesh for centuries and the time has come to call it out and hold them to account.
Thanks to Putin’s adrenochrome task force, pedophile cult leaders around the world can no longer rest assured that their crimes against children will be swept under the carpet like they are in the West.
Truth : Russia did not rescue “Adrenochrome” children from Israeli ship!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Russia has no Adrenochrome task force
This is silly but it has to be said – Russian President Vladimir Putin did not establish any “adrenochrome task force” to destroy “the global adrenochrome supply chain”, as the article claims.
If Putin actually established such a task force, it would have been reported widely across the world, not only by the Russian media. And he would have been mocked for believing in such conspiracy theories. Yet, that never happened… because it was all made up!
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article provided no evidence to back up its “fact checked” claim.
Russia did not rescue children from Israeli ship
Needless to say – Russian special forces most certainly did not rescue any children being trafficked on any Israeli ship for adrenochrome harvesting.
If that actually happened, it would have been reported widely across the world. Yet none of that happened, because it was all made up as well!
Yet again, The People’s Voice article provided no evidence to back up its claim that Russian special forces rescued kidnapped children from an Israeli ship in the Black Sea.
No one is harvesting children for Adrenochrome
The People’s Voice article is based on a far-right conspiracy theory about adrenochrome being harvested from children’s blood or adrenal gland, and used as a drug or elixir of youth.
Truth be told – that’s a really silly conspiracy theory, as there is currently no medical use for adrenochrome, and it can be synthesized in a laboratory. So there is absolutely no need to kill any child to produce adrenochrome.
It is ludicrous for The People’s Voice to suggest that Vladimir Putin would want to do anything to save children. After all, he has sacrificed the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Russian boys and men in his invasion of Ukraine.
But even more ironically, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on 17 March 2023, for abducting children from Ukraine!
Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022.
There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Must new German citizens now pledge allegiance to Israel?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : New German citizens must pledge allegiance to Israel!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claims that new German citizens are required to pledge allegiance to Israel!
Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
Germany Introduces Law Requiring New Citizens To Pledge Allegiance to Israel
Germany has introduced a new law that requires new citizens to swear allegiance and declare their belief in Israel’s right to exist.
It’s very strange for a sovereign nation to require citizens to pledge allegiance to a foreign country, yet Germany did just that in a bizarre move that shows where Western governments’ loyalty really falls.
The unprecedented and controversial legislation, which came into force last week, has also been criticized over its implications for free speech and political expression.
Germany’s new citizenship law echoes draconian steps in the US where as many as 35 states have enacted laws or executive orders that prohibit state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel. Such measures have been described as a loyalty test imposed on US citizens which threatens the First Amendment in the service of an alien state, Israel.
MEM reports: While the liberal government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz initially proposed the law to streamline the path to citizenship for first-generation migrants, it has since been reframed as a measure to ensure adherence to “German values” amidst rising concerns about anti-Semitism and far-right politics.
Truth : New German citizens do not pledge allegiance to Israel!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : New German citizens do not pledge allegiance to Israel!
First, let me just point out that Germany does not require new citizens to pledge allegiance to Israel. That’s just silly.
If Germany ever implemented such a controversial law, it would have been widely reported by the mainstream media. Yet, that never happened because it was all made up.
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article provided no evidence to back up its “fact checked” claims.
Fact #2 : New German citizenship law forbids anti-semitism
If you read this summary of the new German citizenship law, you will see that it does not require new citizens to pledge allegiance to Israel. In fact, Israel does not seem to be mentioned in the law at all!
Rather, it excludes those who profess or practice “anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of disrespect for human beings” from acquiring German citizenship.
The requirement of having adapted to the living environment in Germany is to be replaced with specific grounds for exclusion. Reasons for exclusion from naturalisation include polygamy and disregard for gender equality.
It is clearly established that anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of disrespect for human beings are incompatible with the guarantee of human dignity enshrined in the Basic Law, and are grounds for exclusion from the option to acquire citizenship.
Now, why would anyone want to grant citizenship to people who profess or practice “anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of disrespect for human beings“???
Fact #3 : The People’s Voice is known for fake news
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The iconic instant messenger – ICQ, is shutting down after almost 28 years of loyal service! Here is what you need to know…
ICQ Is Shutting Down : The End Of An Era!
ICQ – it’s been ages since I heard that iconic Uh oh! alert, which still triggers lots of fond memories. After all, it was arguably the most popular instant messenger in the early 2000s.
However, the last day for you to ever hear that Uh oh! alert is this June 25!
That’s because VK announced in a terse notice that it will officially shut down ICQ on June 26, 2024, and invited ICQ users to migrate to VK Messenger, and VK Workspace:
ICQ will stop working from June 26
You can chat with friends in VK Messenger, and with colleagues in VK Workspace
It truly is the end of an era…
It is also a reminder that all software and apps have to evolve, or risk losing out to more agile competitors, and possibly ceasing to exist like ICQ.
Back in the early 2000s, ICQ was king and less than 15 years later, it got canned. That can also happen to ubiquitous apps we have grown to rely on today, like WhatsApp, Telegram, Waze, Google Maps, Twitter (now X), Facebook, etc.
ICQ was created in 1996 by Israeli company Mirabilis, with its name being short for I Seek You. Like other early instant messaging services (remember MSN Messenger?), it allowed people to send messages for free, without the irritating costs and limitations of SMS.
Unlike current instant messengers like WhatsApp, ICQ assigned users a number to connect to one another, instead of mobile numbers or email addresses. It also allowed you to send message to people who were offline. It soon became extremely popular globally, growing to at least 100 million registered users in 2001.
AOL bought ICQ for $407 million in 1998, before it too got bought over by Time Warner. However, ICQ lost out to competitors like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. Finally, AOL sold ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies – the Russian firm that owns VK, which bought it in the hope of revealing it.
VK developed new ICQ mobile apps, which helped in grow in 2015, but their development eventually slowed, before stopping completely. The writing was on the wall when ICQ for both iOS and Android were both removed from the Apple App Store, and the Google Play Store.
Thanks for the free messages and the great memories that came with them, ICQ. You will be missed…
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Was Israel just caught ordering its soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel ordered soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claimed that Israel was just caught ordering its soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine!
Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
Israel Caught Ordering Soldiers To Kill US Citizens Who Support Palestine
The Israeli government has authorized soldiers to detain and execute US citizens in Israel who show support for Palestine.
In shocking recordings obtained by The Grayzone, a soldier for Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion detailed his unit’s killing of a 78-year-old American, and flaunted his genocidal views. After announcing plans to sanction the battalion, the Biden regime has inexplicably decided to remain silent.
In its most brazen instance of abuse, Netzah Yehuda soldiers detained an 78-year-old American citizen named Omar Asad in January 2022 near his home in Ramallah, then left him outdoors in harsh conditions, bound and blindfolded, until he died. Israeli authorities refused to charge the soldiers for Asad’s killing, opting instead for a disciplinary slap on the wrist while paying compensation to Asad’s family.
While the State Department claims to be “still deciding” whether to sanction Netzah Yehuda, The Grayzone has obtained testimony by an apparent veteran of the unit gleefully boasting about the killing of Asad. According to the self-described soldier’s account, the unit sadistically brutalized the elderly Palestinian American as punishment for supposedly interfering with a raid it was conducting at the time.
“This geezer who’s like trying to interfere with our operation, we’re going to like, fuck with him for a night,” the soldier said.
The self-proclaimed Netzah Yehuda member referred to Arabs as “murders, criminal animals,” while boasting that he enjoyed killing and torturing Palestinians, likening himself and members of his unit to Americans who photographed themselves with dead Japanese soldiers during World War II, “doing funny things with their bodies.”
“Yeah, I enjoy it because they’re our enemy,” he declared.
Truth : Israel did not order soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Israel did not order soldiers to kill US citizens
Let me start by pointing out that Israel did not order its soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine!
If that happened, it would have resulted in massive outrage in the United States, and reported widely by the mainstream media. Yet none of that happened … because it was made up!
Israel never authorised its soldiers to “detain and execute US citizens in Israel who show support for Palestine” as claimed by The People’s Voice.
Fact #2 : The People’s Voice provided no evidence
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article provided zero evidence to back up its “fact checked” claim that Israel ordered its soldiers to kill US citizens who support Palestine.
In fact, the The People’s Voice article only made that claim in its title, and the lede. After that, there was no mention of any Israeli order or permission for its soldiers to “detain and execute US citizens in Israel who show support for Palestine”.
Fact #3 : Omar Assad died in the West Bank
It is odd that The People’s Voice article would mention Omar Assad since he was not arrested and executed in Israel. Omar Assad was detained and died in village of Jilijliya, which is located in the West Bank, north of Ramallah.
The West Bank is Palestinian, albeit under Israeli occupation and co-administered by Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). 99.3% of Jilijliya is classified as Area A, under PNA authority.
It is also odd that The People’s Voice article would mention Omar Assad since he died more than 2 years earlier, on 12 January 2022!
On that fateful day, members of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion detained 78 year-old Omar Assad, who was then handcuffed, gagged, and forced to lie on his stomach for up to an hour. He would end up dying from stress-induced cardiac arrest. It is unknown if they were aware that Assad was a US citizen.
Omar Assad’s death led the US State Department to take particular interest in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. It not only sent Hady Amr – the American special representative for Palestinian affairs to visit Assad’s family, it also asked the US embassy in Israel to prepare a report on the battalion.
By November 2022, the Israeli military said it was preparing to indict two of its officers for Omar Assad’s death, and it moved the Netzah Yehuda battalion from the West Bank to the Golan Heights.
Finally, in June 2023, the Israeli military announced that it would punish the soldiers involved in Omar Assad’s detention, but will not charge them for his death as it was impossible to determine if his death was caused specifically by the soldiers’ conduct.
Fact #5 : The People’s Voice is known for fake news
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel and the United States cause the helicopter used by the President of Iran to malfunction and crash?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel + US Crashed Iran President’s Helicopter!
Within hours of news breaking that the helicopter carrying the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials crashed, people started sharing a message claiming that Israel and the United States caused the helicopter used by the President of Iran to malfunction and crash!
Reactions to the “purported” crash of the helicopter carrying the Iran President and other top ranking Iranian officials
📍 All the analysts believe that the President and the other ministers are probably dead by now despite rescue efforts underway to find the plane.
📍 Majority of analysts commenting believe that what caused the crash was the use by Israel 🇮🇱 and the US 🇺🇸 of their own systems to disable navigation systems and get the helicopter to malfunction and crash.
📍Relations between US 🇺🇸 and IRĀN 🇮🇷 were lately getting worse. Hezbollah in Lebanon has been using increasingly advanced weaponry against Israel 🇮🇱 and IRĀN 🇮🇷 has been showing signs of continuing with its program of Uranium enrichment despite US 🇺🇸 opposition.
Sharīf as-Sarifī, media anchor in Egypt 🇪🇬 who largely follows the Sissī line (hence why he is allowed to air, from Egypt 🇪🇬, in his YouTube channel) says: So now that the plane carrying Ibrāhīm Ra’isī and other important political personalities has disappeared. The majority thinks this is not due just to bad weather and this was an assassination.
📍Why? Because the plane was followed by two other two. It was just not any other plane.
📌How would that happen? Israel 🇮🇱 has some equipment that allows to mess up the navigation systems of planes and other vehicles, such as those carrying missiles. Now all the analysts are suspecting this is what impacted the plane carrying the Iranian 🇮🇷President and other ministers.
📍 Sharīf also points to the situation in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 with leadership there keen to move to develop its own nuclear enrichment program. Talks of a US-Saudi Nuclear deal is now in the open. This is all in the works and is the backdrop against which one should look at this possible assassination attempt.
📍This US – Saudi Nuclear Deal is restricted by the US, and it is all part of the normalization deal between Saudi 🇸🇦 and Israel 🇮🇱. The condition that the US is putting on the table for Saudi is: NO Saudi citizen should be ever allowed into the nuclear enrichment facilities to be established in Saudi and only US citizens can enter them so as to prevent any Saudi citizen from learning and being able to develop the program himself.
The Russian Foreign Minister is angry with Israel and claims:
“Israel carried out the assassination of the Iranian President under the auspices of the United States of America.”
No Evidence Israel + US Crashed Iran President’s Helicopter!
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Unknown If Ebrahim Raisi Was Dead Or Alive At That Time
On Sunday, 19 May 2024, the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi arrived at the northern border between Iran and Azerbaijan, to inaugurate the Gir Galasi hydroelectric dam with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. After that inauguration, the Iranian delegation left in a convoy of three helicopters to Tabriz.
At approximately 1:30 PM local time, the helicopter carrying the Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and Supreme Leader Representative in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, crashed shortly after some passengers made an emergency call.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) described the crash as a “hard landing”. Even at 10:30 AM (GMT+8) on Monday 20, it was unknown if anyone was injured or killed in that crash.
An Iranian official told Reuters that rescuers were still struggling to reach the crash site, and that the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were “at risk following the helicopter crash”.
How is it possible for anyone to know that Israel and the United States are responsible for the helicopter crash, when rescuers had not even reached the crash site that day, never mind investigate the cause of the crash at that time???
It was only at approximately 12:30 PM (GMT+8) on 20 May – almost a whole day later, that Iranian state TV confirmed that President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others were killed in the helicopter crash.
The viral message claimed that Israel and the US brought down the helicopter carrying the Iranian president by [remotely] disabling its navigation system.
If there was an electronic attack on the helicopter, it would have affected the other two helicopters travelling in the same convoy. Yet the other two helicopters landed safely.
In addition, the flight crew and occupants of those two helicopters did not claim or report that there was an attack on the helicopter that crashed.
Fact #3 : Iranian State Media Blamed Bad Weather For Crash
Iranian state media did not blame Israel or the United States for the helicopter crash. Instead, Iranian state media blamed bad weather for crash, and said that the helicopter made a “hard landing” after getting into difficulties while travelling through heavy fog in the mountainous area.
The rain and heavy fog also made it extremely difficult for rescue efforts, with Iranian state TV broadcasting footage of rescuers trying to reach in the rain and fog trying to reach the crash site. Iranian state media quoted a regional army commander as saying:
The area has very cold, rainy, and foggy weather conditions. The rain is gradually turning into snow.
If the Iranians are not even blaming Israel or the United States for the crash, why would anyone claim otherwise???
Fact #4 : No Reputable Analyst Claimed Israel / US Involvement
The viral message claimed that “the majority of analysts” or “all the analysts” believe that the helicopter crash was caused by Israel and the United States. That’s utter nonsense.
Currently, no reputable analyst has made such claims. In fact, the viral message did not even name a single analyst who made such a claim!
Fact #5 : Viral Photos Show Trident Pier In Gaza!
To make the fake message more convincing, it comes with two photos, purportedly of US Army equipment used to attack the helicopter carrying the President of Iran. That’s just utter nonsense.
For one thing – the photos were taken at the Trident pier the US military built to provide aid to the Gaza Strip – over a thousand kilometres away!
In addition, it only shows point defences protecting the pier, specifically a Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM) system with a 20mm Gatling gun, and the M-LIDS system which targets drones and other UAVs.
These point defence systems are very short-ranged, and cannot attack helicopters flying over a thousand kilometres away!
Fact #6 : Russia Did Not Blame Israel + US For Iran Helicopter Crash
Finally, the viral message falsely claimed that Russian Foreign Minister said that “Israel carried out the assassination of the Iranian President under the auspices of the United States of America.”
That’s not true. Sergey Lavrov has not commented on the Iranian president’s helicopter crash, never mind blame Israel and the United States for it.
Only Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has commented on the helicopter crash, stating:
We are closely following the reports about the passengers of the third helicopter, which carried top-ranking Iranian officials, including President Raisi.
We sincerely hope that they are alive and their lives are out of danger. Russia is ready to offer all necessary help in the search for the missing helicopter and the investigation of the accident.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Donald Trump just call for the death penalty for pro-Palestine protestors?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Trump Proposed Death Penalty For Pro-Palestine Protestors!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claimed that Donald Trump just called for the death penalty for pro-Palestine college campus protestors!
Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
‘Raging Lunatics’: Trump Proposes Death Penalty For Pro-Palestine Campus Protesters
GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for pro-Palestine college campus protesters, describing them as “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers,” and declaring “we can’t let them do this to our country.”
“Through the centuries the Jews have endured terrible persecution, and you know that. We’ve all read it, studied it, they’ve gone through a lot,” said Trump.
“Those seeking the Jews destruction, we will seek their destruction,” said Trump.
“When you have crimes like this, whether it’s this one, or that one, or another group. We have to bring back the death penalty. They must pay the ultimate price. They can’t do this. They can’t do this to our country. We must draw a line in the sand and say very strongly ‘never again.’
Trump said on Wednesday it “was a beautiful thing to watch” NYPD officers raiding a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestine, anti-Israel students, and called on officials to crack down on campus protests across the US.
“New York was under siege last night,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, praising the police officers for arresting more than 300 protesters at Columbia and City College of New York whom he referred to as “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers.”
Many student protesters are demanding an immediate ceasefire in the war on the Hamas terror group in Gaza and that their universities divest from companies with military and economic ties to Israel.
Truth : Trump Did Not Propose Death Penalty For Pro-Palestine Protestors!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Trump Did Not Propose Death Penalty For Pro-Palestine Supporters!
Let me start by quickly pointing out that Donald Trump did not call for the death penalty for pro-Palestine college campus protestors!
If he actually said that, it would have been widely reported all over the world, and condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, as well as independents alike. Yet no legitimate media outlet reported such a shocking development… because it never happened!
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice never provided any evidence that Donald Trump called for the death penalty for pro-Palestine college campus protestors!
Fact #2 : Trump Death Penalty Quote Was From 2018!
The truth is – The People’s Voice used a 2018 quote by Donald Trump, who called for the death penalty right after a gunman killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018.
Hours later, Trump called for the death penalty for the gunman, Robert Bowers, while campaigning for Rep. Mike Bost in Illinois that same day.
Through the centuries, the Jews have endured terrible persecution. You know that. We’ve all read it. We’ve studied it. They’ve gone through a lot. Those seeking [the Jews] destruction, we will seek their destruction.
And when you have crimes like this, whether it’s this one or another one on another group, we have to bring back the death penalty. They have to pay the ultimate price. They have to pay the ultimate price. They can’t do this. They can’t do this to our country. We must draw a line in the sand and say very strongly: Never again.
– Donald Trump, October 27, 2018, Illinois
To be clear – Trump made those remarks about Robert Bowers in 2018, and not about the pro-Palestine campus college protestors!
Fact #3 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Fake News
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Robert De Niro confront a group of Palestinian supporters in support of Israel?! Take a look at the viral video, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Robert De Niro Supports Israel Against Palestinian Supporters!
People are sharing a video, claiming or suggesting that it shows Robert De Niro confronting a group of Palestinian supporters in support of Israel!
Im Tirtzu: It’s so refreshing to see more people not letting narrative take over their common sense. Well done Robert De Niro, thank you for supporting Israel!
I LOVE watching them eat their own!💯
The Jewish Voice : Legendary actor Robert DeNiro stands up publicly and quite vocally in support of Israel. With anger and defiance in his voice, he says that the looming threat of Hamas is “real” and that this is not a movie. He reminds those listening that Hamas has vowed to replicate the horrific massacre of October 7th, again and again and that the world should wake up to the dangers that the international terror organization presents to the Western world.
Spitfire:DeNiro has had enough of the animals he helped create😂😂
I LOVE watching them eat their own!💯
It was even covered by Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, which triumphantly declared (archive):
Watch as Robert De Niro Confronts pro-Palestinian Protesters in New York
Actor Robert De Niro expressed support for Israel when he confronted pro-Palestinian protested on set of his new film. ‘If you’re going to keep talking nonsense, then you gotta go home’
Truth : Robert De Niro Did Not Support Israel Against Palestinian Supporters!
This is yet another example of fake news circulating on social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Robert De Niro Was Acting On ‘Zero Day’ Set
Let me start by confirming that the video is genuine, and shows Robert De Niro saying:
This is not a movie. This is real. Right now, you gotta listen, you gotta work, you gotta get your job done.
Stand by, offer your support, prayers, that’s great. But you gotta do it from behind the barricade. And if you’re going to keep talking nonsense, then you gotta go home.
These people are dangerous, and they say they are going to do it again! Again! We don’t want that. You don’t want that. None of us want that.
Come all, let’s all get serious.
However, it does not show Robert De Niro confronting Palestinian supporters in support of Israel. It actually shows Robert De Niro acting on the set of the Netflix TV series, Zero Day, in New York City on 27 April 2024.
At around 0:13 of the viral video clip, you can see actor Jesse Plemons just behind and to DeNiro’s right.
From about 0:15 onwards in the video, you can see a woman to his left repeatedly looking at a tablet and at Robert DeNiro, as if she was checking to see if he was following the script.
Needless to say – the video has nothing to do with Palestine, or Israel, or the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Fact #2 : ‘Zero Day’ Has Nothing To Do With Israel / Palestine
Just in case you are wondering – Zero Day is an upcoming TV series from Netflix. While its plot is not known, it has been described as a political conspiracy thriller that is centred around a devastating global cyberattack.
In that scene, De Niro’s character, former American President George Mullen, appeared to be talking to firefighters and paramedics carrying wounded people on stretchers, and not pro-Palestinian supporters.
As far as we can tell – Zero Day has nothing to do with Israel or Palestine. It is certainly not based on the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, as the project started in November 2022, and casting started in April 2023.
The viral video clip was released earlier on TikTok, and those posting it did not claim that it had anything to do with the pro-Palestine protests. In fact, they clearly used hashtags referring to the Netflix miniseries, Zero Day.
Even Breitbart – hardly the fount of truth, commented on the original video clip (archive), stating that Robert De Niro was acting at the scene of Zero Day, with Jesse Plemons in the background.
It was only from 1 May onwards that someone added subtitles, and a false overlay stating “Robert De Niro Stands with Israel!”
Fact #4 : Robert De Niro’s Rep + Netflix Confirmed It’s Fake
After the video went viral, Newsweek contacted the staff of the Zero Day miniseries, and both Robert De Niro’s rep, and Netflix, confirmed that the viral video clip was fake and had nothing to do with the pro-Palestinian protests.
Stan Rosenfield of Rosenfield Media Group, which represents the award-winning actor, said the video that is circulating that insinuates De Niro is arguing with protesters is “100 percent fake.”
“It is 100 percent a scene from Mr. De Niro’s Netflix TV series, Zero Day, where his character is talking to extras,” Rosenfield told Newsweek Tuesday in a phone interview.
A spokesperson for Netflix also verified that the images were captured during a rehearsal for the series.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the UN just declare war on conspiracy theorists, and say that they should be punished or eliminated like terrorists?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : UN Says Conspiracy Theorists Should Be Eliminated!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claimed that the UN (United Nations) just declared war on conspiracy theorists, saying that they should be punished or eliminated like terrorists!
Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
UN Says ‘Dangerous’ Conspiracy Theorists Must Be Punished Like Terrorists
The United Nations has declared war on conspiracy theorists, describing the rise of people thinking for themselves as “worrying and dangerous”, and providing the public with a toolkit to “debunk” and “prebunk” anyone who dares to suggest the global elite are anything but completely honest, upstanding and working with our best interests at heart.
The UN also warns that George Soros, the Rothschilds, and the State of Israel must not be linked to any “alleged conspiracies.”
It’s no wonder the UN are waging war on so-called conspiracy theorists.
UNESCO has teamed up with Twitter, the European Commission and the World Jewish Congress to launch the campaign dubbed #ThinkBeforeSharing: Stop the spread of conspiracy theories.
The UN wants you to know that events are NOT “secretly manipulated behind the scenes by powerful forces with negative intent” and if you encounter anybody who thinks the global elite are conspiring to seize power and dictate global events, you must take action.
According to UNESCO, “if you are certain you have encountered a conspiracy theory” on the internet then you must “react” immediately post a relevant link to a “fact-checking website” in the comments.
Truth : UN Did Not Say Conspiracy Theorists Should Be Eliminated!
This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : UN Did Not Say Conspiracy Theorists Should Be Eliminated
Let me start by quickly pointing out that the United Nations (UN) did not say that conspiracy theorists should be punished or eliminated like terrorists, as claimed or suggested by The People’s Voice article.
If that actually happened, it would have been reported worldwide. Yet, no legitimate media reported on such a shocking development, because it never happened.
Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article did not provide any actual evidence that the UN said that conspiracy theorists should be punished or eliminated like terrorists.
Fact #2 : #ThinkBeforeSharing No Longer Exists!
Now, I should point out that UNESCO initiated the #ThinkBeforeSharing initiative back in August 2020 – during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the #ThinkBeforeSharing website no longer exists!
So why would The People’s Voice article claim or suggest that the UN recently launched the #ThinkBeforeSharing campaign, when it no longer exists??? Did their time machine break down after they travelled back to 2020???
Fact #3 : UN Did Not Warn About Soros, Rothschild, Israel
The United Nations also did not issue any warning that George Soros, the Rothschilds, and the State of Israel must not be linked to any “alleged conspiracies.”
Yet again, The People’s Voice article provided no evidence that the UN warned against linking George Soros, the Rothschilds, or Israel, to any conspiracy.
Fact #4 : UNESCO Pointed Out That Real Conspiracies Do Exist!
In addition, UNESCO itself pointed out (archive) that real conspiracies do exist, and have been exposed by whistleblowers and the media. It even quoted an example:
In 2006, the U.S. District Court in Washington DC (USA) ruled that major cigarette companies were guilty of conspiracy. For decades, they had hidden evidence of health risks attached to smoking to promote higher sales.
So why would UNESCO or the UN call for conspiracy theorists to be eliminated or punished like terrorists when some of them could be right???
Fact #5 : UN Screenshot Is Fake
The cover image used by The People’s Voice article and video has a screenshot which purportedly shows the United Nations (UN) posting on X (formerly Twitter) that:
Conspiracy theorists must be totally eliminated from society.
That is most definitely a fake screenshot, because there is no such post on X by the United Nations.
If the UN actually posted such a shocking tweet, it would have been reported by the worldwide media. But of course, that didn’t happen, because the UN never posted it!
The official United Nations account on X also has a grey checkmark, not a blue checkmark.
This appears to be yet another fake / edited screenshot created or posted by The People’s Voice!
Fact #6 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Fake News
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Truth : Iran Did Not Shot Down Israeli F-35 Over Isfahan!
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating online, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : That Video Was From A Video Game
The viral video does not actually show Iran anti-aircraft personnel shooting down an Israeli F-35 over Isfahan.
It is really just a clip from a gameplay video called “Anti-Air C-RAM System in Action shot down Fighter Jets – Surface-to-Air Missile – Mil-Sim – ArmA 3“.
The gameplay video was recorded using the game, ArmA 3, which is also known as ArmA III or Armed Assault 3 – an open-world, military tactical shooter game by Bohemia Interactive.
This particular gameplay video was posted on YouTube by Compared Comparison on 30 July 2022, so obviously it has nothing to do with the Israeli strike on Iran in April 19, 2024.
Fact #2 : F-35 Does Not Have Canards
Compared Comparison did not state what fighter jets were featured in the video, only that they were shot down using the the 20mm gatling gun on the C-RAM/Phalanx CIWS.
However, if you look closely at the aircraft in the viral video, you can see that it has canards – small wings in front of the main wings. It could be any one of these fighter jets with canards:
Eurofighter Typhoon
Dassault Rafale
Saab JAS 39 Gripen
But the aircraft in the viral video is most certainly not the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II, which lacks any canards.
Fact #3 : It Was Posted As Houthi Shooting Down F-15 Earlier
The perpetrator of this hoax, Joseph, asked his followers to “please go into the comments and call out all the fraudsters saying its fake, thank you.”
Not only did he falsely misrepresent the video as Iran shooting down an F-35 over Isfahan, he actually posted the same video on 12 January 2024, claiming that it showed Houthi forces shooting down an American F-15:
HOUTHI ANTI AIR CAPABILITIES SEEN DESTROYING THE FIRST AMERICAN F-15 OF THE WAR OVER SANA’A, YEMEN.
He even used the same syntax for that fake claim!
Fact #4 : Israel Only Launched A Drone Strike
Regardless of the fake video, it is impossible for Iran to shoot down any Israeli F-35 fighter jets, because Israel never sent any on 19 April 2024.
The April 19 strike by Israel used drone, as well as at least one missile. No Israeli fighter jets – F-35, or otherwise, were involved.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just announce a $5 billion plan to build new settlements in the Gaza Strip?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
People are sharing a video on social media, claiming or suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just announced a $5 billion to build new settlements in the Gaza Strip!
Syrian Girl : ‼️Netanyahu promises billions to rebuild illegal Jewish settlements in #Gaza over the bodies of the Palestinian children. His friend Jared Kushner said Gaza is good real estate (leubenstraum).
Mario Nawfal : 🚨🇮🇱 NETANYAHU’S $5B GAZA SETTLEMENT PLAN
Netanyahu announced a $5 billion investment plan to build settlements in Gaza’s Envelope.
This initiative is supported by Germany and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“We will invest in housing, infrastructure, education, employment, medicine, and more.”
Critics view it as an act of occupation and genocide against Palestinians, while supporters argue it is essential for Israel’s security.
Sulaiman Ahmed :BREAKING: BENJAMIN NETANYAHU UNVEILS PLANS TO CONSTRUCT SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA
This plan is backed by a staggering investment of $5 BILLION
Pelham : Netanyahu reveals a plan to spend a staggering 19 Billion to turn the Gaza Strip into settlements… backed by Germany and the UK
Truth : Netanyahu Did Not Announce $5 Billion Gaza Settlement Plan!
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating online, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Netanyahu Did Not Announce $5 Billion Gaza Settlement Plan!
Let me start by pointing out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not announce any $5 billion plan to build new settlements in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, Netanyahu announced a five-year, 19-billion-shekel ($5 billion) plan to rebuild and strengthen communities near the Gaza border after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.
The Tekuma Plan, as it’s called, does not involve the Gaza Strip. The money would only go towards towns in the Western Negev, bordering the Gaza Strip.
Fact #2 : Video Was Incorrectly Translated
The viral video had user-added subtitles, that appear to be incorrectly (perhaps intentionally?) translated.
The correct translation is available through the official transcript on the official Israeli government website (archive):
I have just come from meeting with the British and German foreign ministers. Last night, I spoke with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and soon I will speak with additional leaders.
I thank our friends for their support in defense of Israel and I say this – support in both words and deeds. They also have all kinds of suggestions and advice, which I appreciate; however, I would also like to clarify – we will make our decisions ourselves. The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself.
Today, the Government will approve the Tekuma Plan to rebuild the communities in the Western Negev. We will invest the very large sum of NIS 19 billion in order to move the communities of the Western Negev forward for generations. We will invest in housing, infrastructure, education, employment, health and more.
The Hamas terrorists sought to uproot us. We will uproot them and deepen our roots. We will build the Land of Israel and safeguard our state.
As you can see, Benjamin Netanyahu never mentioned the Gaza Strip, when he announced the Tekuma Plan. He only referred to the “communities in the Western Negev”, which covers the border towns near the Gaza Strip, but not the Gaza Strip itself.
Fact #3 : Israel Is Building New Settlements In East Jerusalem
While Israel has not made any plans to build new settlements in the Gaza Strip, The Guardian just reported that the Israeli government has accelerated the construction of new settlements in East Jerusalem:
Israel’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totalling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show.
Ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind all the largest and most contentious of the projects, sometimes in association with rightwing nationalist groups with a history of trying to evict Palestinians from their homes in parts of the city.
The rapid approval or construction of settlements that are illegal under international law is likely to further damage Israel’s relationship with the Biden administration.
Instead of pushing false narratives about the Takuma Plan, perhaps it would be more fruitful for Palestinian supporters to question and criticise Israel’s building of new settlements in East Jerusalem.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Was the Bondi Junction killer a Jewish extremist called Ben Cohen?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Bondi Junction Killer Was Jewish Extremist Called Ben Cohen
Right after news broke about a man who stabbed and killed six people at Bondi Junction, some people immediately claimed or suggested that he was a Jewish extremist called Ben Cohen!
Thomas Sewell : First confirmed victim of the terror attack in Sydney is a White mother and her baby.
Media accidentally leaked the attackers name as “Benjamin Cohen”.
In the video you can clearly see he is Arab/Semite, so not surprised to find out he is jewish not muslim.
Thomas Sewell : I doubt this is a coincidence that Iran is attacking Israel today and I’d hazard a guess CSG (Mossad) in Sydney would be behind launching an attack.
Conservative Inc and jews all over twitter and MSM were quick to say this was an anti-semitic attack because it happened in bondi.
CI Trending News : PHOTO: Jewish terrorist, Ben Cohen, is lead coding instructor at Code4Fun and has Bachelor of Computing Science at UTS, as he’s the alleged Bondi Junction Mall attacker.
Syrian Girl : Photos emerge of the crazed stabber in Sydney Bondi junction. Looks Israeli.
Syrian Girl (screenshot) : BREAKING : BONDI JUNCTION ATTACKER WAS JEWISH, NAME CONFIRMED AS BENJAMIN COHEN
Truth : Bondi Junction Killer Was Not Jewish Extremist Called Ben Cohen
This appears to be yet another example of fake news circulating on social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Ben Cohen Is Not Bondi Junction Killer
Let me start by pointing out that Ben Cohen / Benjamin Cohen is not the Bondi Junction killer!
The real Bondi Junction killer has been identified as Joel Cauchi – a 40 year-old man from Toowoomba, Queensland. It was his family who contacted the police, after recognising him on the news.
Joel Cauchi lived a transient lifestyle, and travelled to Sydney in March 2024. At about 3:20 PM on 13 April 2024, Cauchi entered Westfield Bondi Junction and started stabbing people randomly with a knife, killing six people and injuring 12 others.
When police inspector Amy Scott confronted Fauci on the 5th floor, he lunged at her with a knife. She then shot him twice in his chest, and performed CPR on him after he collapsed. However, Joel Cauchi died on the scene.
To be clear – Joel Cauchi was the person who stabbed 18 people at Westfield Bondi Junction, killing 6 of them. Ben Cohen had nothing to do with the Bondi Junction stabbings!
Fact #2 : Benjamin Cohen Is Still Alive
I should also point out that the real Bondi Junction killer was shot dead by Inspector Amy Scott, whereas Ben Cohen / Benjamin Cohen is still alive, and well!
In fact, Ben Cohen – a 20 year-old first-year computing science student at the University of Technology, slammed claims that he was the one who stabbed those people at Westfield Bondi Junction.
His father, Mark, who lives with him, had to fend off those vicious rumours, and called on the New South Wales police to release the name of the real Bondi Junction killer.
Everyone’s asking what’s going on, people asking if it’s true. Of course it’s not true, he’s not even a politically motivated person. He’s just a normal kid who now has got to deal with this.
Hey NSW Police, you need to release the name of the Bondi junction attacker before this nonsense claiming it was my son causes more harm.
Unsurprisingly, none of those who claimed that Benjamin Cohen was the Jewish extremist who stabbed those people at Bondi Junction, ever provided any evidence to back up their claims.
Fact #3 : Channel 7 Wrongly Identifies Ben Cohen As Bondi Junction Killer
Channel 7 News appears to be the first to claim that Ben Cohen was the Bondi Junction killer.
In a 5-minute video clip on its YouTube channel, Sunrise hose Matt Shirvington was interviewing security expert Scott Taylor outside Westfield Bondi Junction, with the chyron reading “Security expert Scott aylor joins Weekend Sunrise as new details are confirmed about the attacker, Benjamin Cohen, and his victims.”
After Channel 7 News was contacted about the mistake, the video clip was quickly deleted, and a spokesperson said that it was “a human error”:
It was human error. The mistake has been rectified. Seven sincerely apologises for the error.
To be clear – Channel 7 News never claimed that Benjamin Cohen was a Jewish extremist. So it is most peculiar to see people immediately claiming or suggesting that he was a Jewish / Israeli extremist.
Needless to say, Ben Cohen found the whole experience of being falsely accused of murdering and injuring so many people “highly distressing”:
It’s extremely disappointing to me to see people mindlessly propagating misinformation like this without even the slightest thought put into fact checking.
But what’s even more disappointing to me is a major news network doing this, using my name without waiting for a statement from police to verify this or going out to try and verify it themselve
This whole incident has been highly distressing and disappointing for myself and my family. And it’s quite disappointing to see how eager people were to ‘bandwagon’ on and spread this type of (misinformation) like wildfire.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
People keep sharing this photo as evidence that Americans / Israelis are stealing Palestinian homes, every time there is a conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
It notably went viral in May 2021, after Michael Moore posted it (archive) on his Facebook wall, and it has gone viral every few months since then, and most notably after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
If someone took/stole your home right now, and moved you out because a theocracy ordered it — or what if this same theocracy bulldozed your home and tossed you out into a field and told you and your children to GTF outta here — what would YOUR response be?
What would you have the moral right to do about it? And to be perfectly clear, I don’t care if it was a Christian Fascist German soldier in 1941 forcibly removing you from your home, or an American bank in 2008 forcibly removing you and kicking you to the curb while taking your home — it’s gut-check time, folks (and yes, I mean you too, fellow pacifists):
What would you have the moral and human right and DUTY to do about it, to respond to it, to stop it? And would the rest of the world just stand by and let you suffer as it so often does?
When do we all just put a stop to this, to grind the gears of the machine to a complete halt and replace the plutocracy (we’re not a democracy), the theocracy (you’re not a democracy), and any racial, religious or corporate supremacy with TRUE democracy, FULL human rights, and love?
Truth : Brooklyn Couple Did Not Steal Palestinian Couple’s Home!
This is a rather iconic photo – a Palestinian couple looking at what used to be their ancestral home, now occupied by an Israeli couple. We decided to investigate the photo, and here was what we found…
Fact #1 : The Photo Was Taken In Israel
This photo is genuine, and was taken in the village of Ijzim, about 30 minutes south of Haifa in Israel.
Just to be clear, Ijzim is not in the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip – territory under partial or full Palestinian control.
Fact #2 : The Photo Was Taken In 2020
Despite what people may say, this photo was not taken recently. It was taken and published in May 2020. The last time the elderly Palestinian couple was in Ijzim was 72 years prior to the photo.
Fact #3 : Ijzim Was Depopulated In 1948
Israel captured Ijzim during the 1948 War, and the majority of the villagers fled or were expelled during the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe). The Israelis quickly demolished the Arab houses to make way for permanent Jewish settlements.
Photo credit : Fred Csasznik – Front cover of The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem by Benny Morris, Cambridge University Press 1989.
Fact #4 : Palestinians No Longer Own These Lands
While the Nakba can be argued as morally wrong, this is not an uncommon practice whenever a country annexes or conquers a region.
For example, the Soviet Union expelled Germans from East Prussia after World War 2, and gave the southern part to Poland, while Lithuania was given the northern part.
Today, East Prussia is part of Poland and Lithuania – both members of the European Union and NATO. Germans who were expelled between 1945 and 1949 can visit their ancestral homes, but they cannot claim ownership over those lands.
More directly – there is no evidence the elderly Palestinian couple have any paper to prove their prior ownership of the land on which their home used to be.
Fact #5 : The House Was Not Their Home
The house in the photo is not the same house that the elderly Palestinian couple used to live in. That house, which belonged to the Palestinian man’s father, was demolished during the Nakba, and a new home was built on the land.
So it is factually wrong to say that the elderly Palestinian couple was looking at “the house they once lived in“. The house they were looking at is completely different from the house they once lived in.
That does not mean that the Palestinian couple has no right to feel hurt over their loss. It was, after all, where they once lived. But whether they are entitled to that land that they abandoned more than 70 years ago is another question altogether.
Fact #6 : It Was Part Of An Al-Jazeera Project
For those who doubt the authenticity of the photo, I can confirm that it is genuine and was taken as part of an al-Jazeera project.
In May 2020, Najwan Simri of Al Jazeera took an elderly Palestinian couple to visit their original homes and to meet their current Israeli residents. Here is the Al Jazeera video clip, as well as an English translation.
Some towns and cities inside the Green Line will become the hope of those in the diaspora. But they will also become a station of refuge for others.
Here lives a family uprooted from a nearby village. We had an appointment with Hajjeh Im Samir to accompany her there. Her [ailing] husband insisted on coming with us because he said the air of Ijzim is the best cure.
Despite its beauty, the road there seems desolate as if it gets you to the place but doesn’t take you there. Eagerly, Im Samir organizes our tour for us and tells us the names of the [Palestinian] owners of the houses.
Our first stop is God’s house. Its stones have been preserved as they were. Alone, the colors of its locked doors change each time the dryness of the seasons intensifies.
Here, Abu Samir does not stay in the car because this stop [station] is the location for which he has most longed in order to banish the other stations of his life. “This was our house, my father’s house. After the ‘48 wars, the Jews occupied it.”
After a few minutes, the residents of the house come out to [the gate]. They ask us what we want. We say, this is the owner of the house; how do you feel living in a house built on the wreckage of his house? [The answer] Frankly, I don’t feel anything. I am very happy. Living here is very enjoyable.
How strange is the distance between the owner of the house and he who is occupying it. How strange is the irony between he who has to stand inside the gate and he who must stand outside the gate. How strong Abu Samir is! For other uprooted people have refused to accompany us [on our tour]. One of them told us that he cannot bear to glimpse through the window of his father’s house a foreigner living there.
And that [glimpse] could possibly be of a strange symbol, like [what is glimpsed through the window] of a stolen [Palestinian] school converted into a temple with an emblem [the flag of Israel] that is not as old as the memory of the stones of the school.
And so, an extreme picture! It is said that the passage of time helps in forgetting, but, in the Palestinian case, it seems that the equation of time is different and that the years are merely a number. Rather, the longer the banishment of the Palestinians is, the more they remember.
– This is Najwan Simri, reporting from the depopulated village of Ijzim for Al Jazeera.
Fact #7 : No Evidence The Couple Was From Brooklyn
The most authoritative source for this photo was Al Jazeera, and even they did not identify the Israeli couple, much less confirmed that they were from Brooklyn, New York City.
Despite my extensive searching, I could find no source to back up this claim. None of the earlier posts using this picture – in May to June 2020 – even mentioned that the Israeli couple were from Brooklyn.
Therefore, it is highly likely that their Brooklyn origin is completely bogus, and was added much later.
Many detractors have pointed out that this is of no importance. If that is true, then I ask – why lie about this? Why claim, without evidence, that the couple was from Brooklyn?
IMHO, it must have been important for the people who added this “Brooklyn” connection to tie this “occupation” of Palestinian land to the Americans. Hence, the necessity to claim that the Israeli couple was from the United States.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Do Israelis get free healthcare, and faster organ transplants in the US?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israelis Get Free Healthcare + Faster Organ Transplants In US!
People are sharing a video, which claims or suggests that Israelis get free healthcare and faster organ transplants in the US!
Stew Peters : 🚨ALERT: Israelis are fast-tracked to the top of the U.S. ORGAN DONATION list and they get the entire operation for FREE.
Again, American taxpayers are paying for Israelis to come to the US, skip to the top of organ donation list, steal American organs, and have American doctors perform the transplants.
Reconsider becoming an organ donor.
Ryan Dawson : Israelis can get free Healthcare in the US and receive organs ahead of Americans
Jayda Fransen : Well isn’t that a kick in the teeth for every hardworking tax-paying American.
ADAM : Israelis get FREE Healthcare in the US and receive AMERICAN organs ahead of Americans…
Truth : Israelis Do Not Get Free Healthcare / Faster Organ Transplants In US!
This is yet another example of fake news circulating on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter), and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Israelis Do Not Get Free Healthcare In US
Let me start by simply pointing out that Israelis do not get free healthcare in the US, even though they now
After the October 7 attack by Hamas (but unrelated to it), the United States government granted a 90-day visa waiver for Israelis to travel to the US for tourism or business purposes. However, these Israeli visitors do not get free healthcare.
Even though Israelis can travel to the US without visa for medical treatment, they cannot stay longer than 90 days. Hence, the NIH still recommends that travellers obtain a B-2 temporary visitor’s visa for medical treatment.
But the key takeaway point is that Israelis do not get special benefits like free healthcare, or longer visa-free stays, than citizens of other countries in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
Fact #2 : Only Israeli PRs Can Access Medicaid / CHIP
Even Israeli immigrants do not get access to free healthcare in the United States. Only after they become legal permanent residents, or citizens, can they potentially access Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), which offer free or low-cost coverage for those who meet state income and residency requirements.
However, many legal permanent residents are required to wait 5 years after receiving their “qualified immigration status” before they can get Medicaid and CHIP coverage.
To get Medicaid and CHIP coverage, many qualified non-citizens (such as many Lawful Permanent Residents, also known as LPRs or green card holders) have a 5-year waiting period. This means they must wait 5 years after getting “qualified” immigration status before they can get Medicaid and CHIP coverage. There are exceptions. For example, refugees, asylees, or LPRs who used to be refugees or asylees don’t have to wait 5 years.
To be clear – Israelis cannot simply fly to the US and get access to Medicaid or CHIP, even if they are applying for residency in the United States.
It is illogical for Israelis to fly all the way to the US for free healthcare, when they already get universal healthcare in Israel!
In Israel, all citizens and permanent residents are covered by its National Health Insurance Law, which guarantees them the right to receive healthcare “within a reasonable time and at a reasonable distance from their place of residence”.
This universal healthcare system is funded by Israeli citizens who pay 3% to 5% of their income, while the government funds the rest. Many new Israeli citizens are entitled to free healthcare for six months to a year.
Fact #4 : Israelis Do Not Get Priority In US Organ Transplants
There is no evidence that Israelis get special priority, or are fast tracked for organ transplants in the US. Neither have those making these claims ever provided any evidence.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), whenever an organ is available, its centralised computer network generates a list of potential transplant candidates who have medical and biologic profiles that are compatible with the donor.
Its system ranks transplant candidates by their biologic information, as well as medical factors, disease severity, and time spent on the waiting list. Those other factors may result in a relatively new candidate receiving an organ earlier than one who spent more time on the waiting list.
However, that does not mean that they are getting fast-tracked, or special priority. It just means that the donor organs may better match them, or they may be prioritised for some other factors like delivery time and distance.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Were top UN officials found guilty of orchestrating the October 7 false flag attack on Israel?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Top UN Officials Guilty Of October 7 Attack On Israel!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claimed that top UN officials were found guilty of orchestrating the October 7 false flag attack on Israel!
Top UN Officials Found Guilty of Orchestrating Oct. 7 False Flag Attack in Israel
A bombshell new report has found that several top United Nations officials were instrumental in orchestrating the Hamas terror attack in Israel on October 7 last year.
On Friday, the U.S. State Department suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after evidence emerged the agency had been part of a secret plot to run a false flag op in Israel.
The UNRWA confessed that 12 of its officials had been involved in the false flag attack and confirmed that they have since been fired from the agency.
Top UN Officials Were Not Found Guilty Of October 7 Attack On Israel!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Top UN Officials Were Not Implicated
Let me start by pointing out that the recent UNRWA controversy did not involve top UN officials, as alleged in The People’s Voice article.
On Friday, 26 January 2024, Israel claimed that 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Israel never implicated any top UN official, only 12 UNRWA staff members. As reported by CNN:
The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, met with senior US officials on Friday and gave them “specific names and which organizations they are affiliated with, whether Hamas or PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) or others, and what exactly they did on October 7,” the Israeli official said.
“We showed them that we had solid intelligence from difference sources.”
An Israeli official familiar with how the intelligence was gathered said it was taken from Hamas computers and documents confiscated during operations in Gaza, and from interrogations of detainees and alleged terrorists.
Israeli officials say some of the attackers who were killed or detained on October 7 had UNRWA IDs on them. CNN was not shown the IDs or other intelligence.
The People’s Voice article offered no evidence to back up its “fact checked” claims. Neither did it name the top UN officials that it alleged were found guilty of orchestrating the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
Fact #2 : UNRWA Did Not Confess Its Officials Were Involved
The People’s Voice article claimed that UNRWA confessed that its officials were involved. That’s not true.
The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said a full investigation into the allegations was being carried out “to establish the truth without delay.“, and that any staff found to have been involved in acts of terror “will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution“.
On 17 January 2024, UNRWA announced a full and independent review. That review, and the UNRWA investigation into the Israeli allegations, are still ongoing as of Monday, 29 January 2024.
Fact #3 : Only 9 UNRWA Employees Were Fired So Far
The People’s Voice article claimed that UNRWA not only confessed its officials were involved, it confirmed firing all of them. That is also not true.
On Sunday, 28 January 2024, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement, stating that nine of the 12 UNRWA staff members at the center of the allegations had been fired. One other was dead and the identities of two others were still “being clarified.”
Of the 12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified.
To be clear – those UNRWA employees were fired before investigations have been completed. Thus, their guilt have not yet been confirmed.
Fact #4 : No Evidence Hamas Attack Was False Flag Op
Bizarrely, The People’s Voice article claimed that the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel was a false flag operation. The claim is, frankly, ludicrous and illogical.
A false flag operation is one which is designed to look like it was committed by someone else. False flag operations are often executed to generate sympathy for the attacked party, or offer it justification to retaliate against the falsely-blamed perpetrator.
If the October 7 attack by Hamas was a false flag operation, it would suggest that it was Israel planned it, in order to gain sympathy and/or justification to attack Gaza in retaliation. There is no evidence of that, and The People’s Voice provided no evidence to back up its claim.
More importantly, it was Israel who made the allegations against UNRWA. If Israel was the real perpetrator of the October 7 attack on itself, it wouldn’t need to make these allegations. Justified or not, Israel already had casus belli to retaliate against Hamas, courtesy of the earlier October 7 attack.
Fact #5 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Publishing Fake News
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
No Evidence Israel Plans To Build Any Homes On Gaza Beach!
This appears to be an over-reaction on social media over a joke / trolling, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Photos / Images Are Genuine
First, I should point out that the viral photos or images are genuine, and were posted (archive | archive) by Israeli real estate company הרי זהב (Harey Zahav / Mountains of Gold).
Translated into English, the Hebrew post by Harey Zahav reads:
A beach house on the beach isn’t a dream! We at Harey Zahav Company are preparing the ground for the return to Gush Katif. Our staff are working on the best lands, to evacuate the invaders and clean up the rubble. We hope that our soldiers will return home soon to resume work.
Fact #2 : They Were Posted As A Joke
Even though the images are genuine, they do not actually show houses being promoted for sale by הרי זהב (Harey Zahav).
After the images went viral, the company’s owner, Zeev Epshtein, clarified that they were posted as a joke (archive):
This is a joke. We’re not the State of Israel. We are a private company that obviously can’t make such decisions.”
The “joke” is extremely distasteful and cruel, in light of the devastation and deaths the company appears to be making light of. But they really are not evidence that:
Israel planned the October 7 attack by Hamas, and/or
Israel planned to seize Palestinian land in Gaza, and/or
Israel has approved building new homes for Israeli settlers in Gaza
These images may have been an attempt by the company to “troll” Palestinian supporters, or to draw attention to their company. However, they are now (inadvertently) being compared to how the Nazis destroyed / seized Jewish homes and property in the 1930s.
It is currently unknown what plans Israel has for the Gaza Strip, after invading it on 27 October 2023, following the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel intends to have “overall security responsibility over the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period” following the war. While that does not mean that Israel intends to annex the Gaza Strip, it may be end up turning into a “de facto” annexation / occupation of the Gaza Strip.
Fact #4 : Israeli Settlements Are Illegal Under International Law
To be clear – Israel has not (yet) allowed new settlements in the Gaza Strip. For one thing – heavy fighting is still going on between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas.
That does not mean they won’t eventually allow settlers to move in, or close an eye. After all, Israel has long allowed (and even encouraged) the creation of illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
All those settlements have been ruled as illegal by the international community. Some legal experts also described these settlements as a war crime.
Certainly, the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land have drawn comparisons to how Nazi Germany confiscated Jewish land and property in the 1930s, leading eventually to the Holocaust.
That said, it seems unlikely that Israel will eventually allow new settlements to be created in the Gaza Strip.
For one thing – international opinion is turning against Israel for its disproportionate response to the October 7 attack by Hamas, with numerous reports of discriminate attacks on civilians. New settlements in the Gaza Strip would likely be a red line for even the Biden Administration.
But more critically, the Gaza Strip is small, and offers relatively little space for new Israeli settlements to be created with suitable buffer zones. Unless Israel intends to permanently occupy the Gaza Strip, it would be “easier” for them to create new settlements in the West Bank,
There is also the issue of how Israel intends to “deal” with over 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are already living in one of the most densely-populated places on earth. One can only hope Israel does not adopt even more deadly Nazi methods of getting rid of their “Untermensch” (subhumans).
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Does a viral video show that it was really IDF helicopters that killed many Israelis during the October 7 attack by Hamas?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : October 7 Video Shows IDF Helicopters Killing Israelis!
People are sharing a short video clip on X (formerly Twitter), while claiming / suggesting that it shows IDF AH-64 Apache helicopters targeting and killing Israelis during the October 7 attack by Hamas!
Dr. Anastasia Maria Louis : It’s now been confirmed via a police investigation that this footage from October 7 Nova Festival showed IDF Apache helicopters killed the majority of civilians.
Israel did this🇮🇱
Syrian Girl : BREAKING🚨: Israel admits apache helicopters fired on their own civilians running from the Supernova music festival.
“The pilots realised that there was tremendous difficulty in distinguishing within the occupied outposts and settlements who was a terrorist and who was a soldier or civilian… The rate of fire against the thousands of terrorists was tremendous at first, and only at a certain point did the pilots begin to slow down the attacks and carefully select the targets.”
Megatron : BREAKING: Footage has emerged of an Israeli helicopter killing many people at an October 7 concert in Israel.
The IDF basically fired on everyone fleeing that concert using helicopters. Still unconfirmed.
Truth : Video Does Not Show IDF Helicopters Killing Israelis!
This is yet another of FAKE NEWS circulating on X (formerly Twitter), and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Video Was Edited + Cut
First, I should point out that the viral video, which only lasted 14 seconds, was edited and cut from the end of the original video, which runs for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
Fact #2 : IDF Released The Original Video
On top of that – the original video was released by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on October 9, 2023. It would not make sense for them to release a video showing their helicopters firing on Israelis.
Fact #3 : IDF Video Showed Attacks On Hamas
When the IDF posted the original video, it clearly stated that the video shows its attacks on Hamas. It never said that the footage showed attacks on Israelis.
מטוסי חיל האוויר מבצעים לאורך כל היממה האחרונה תקיפות נרחבות לאורכה ולרוחבה של רצועת עזה וממיטים הרס וחורבן על מחבלי חמאס. רק בשלוש השעות האחרונות נתקפו כ-130 מטרות באמצעות עשרות מטוסים. מוקדי התקיפה: בית חאנון, סג׳עיה, אל פורקן ורימאל>>
Throughout the last day, Air Force planes have been carrying out extensive attacks along the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip, wreaking havoc on Hamas terrorists. In just the last three hours, about 130 targets were attacked using dozens of planes. The focus of the attack: Beit Hanon, Sajaya, Al Furkan and Rimal >>
When Newsweek contacted the IDF about the viral claims, an IDF spokesperson confirmed that claims that it showed IDF aerial attacks on the Nova festival are “fake”:
On October 9, a video was published on the IDF’s official Twitter account describing IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip.
The purpose of the strikes was to stop the murderous terrorists from penetrating into Israel to commit brutal and inhumane crimes. The viral post of an airstrike on the Nova festival is fake.
The 9/11 Commission report also pointed out that it was Osama bin Laden who ordered the September 11 attacks to proceed.
As final preparations were under way during the summer of 2001, dissent emerged among al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan over whether to proceed. The Taliban’s chief, Mullah Omar, opposed attacking the United States. Although facing opposition from many of his senior lieutenants, Bin Ladin effectively overruled their objections, and the attacks went forward.
Fact #5 : Geolocation Puts Video Far From Festival Ground
Perhaps you don’t believe what the IDF said – even though its pilots were the ones that recorded those videos. Its confirmed was corroborated by an independent party – the GeoConfirmed team.
The GeoConfirmed volunteers confirmed in a detailed post that the location of the video is approximately 10.5 kilometres / 6.5 miles away from the site of the Supernova Music Festival.
In other words, the video was recorded far away from the civilians who were massacred at the Supernova Music Festival.
Fact #6 : IDF Did Shoot At Some Israelis By Mistake
During any fighting, it is easy for civilians to get caught up in the crossfire – in the fog of war. There were reports that IDF personnel did fire at people fleeing the Supernova music festival, but only because they were misidentified as Hamas terrorists.
Danielle Rachiel, whose story was recounted in the Middle East Monitor article that was shared with some examples of the viral video, said:
… witness Danielle Rachiel … described nearly being killed after escaping from the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival. As she drove to safety, Israeli security forces shot directly at her vehicle until she shouted in Hebrew to identify herself as Israeli.
Later, Rachiel and Ronald Rozenfeld – the man who was driving the car that came under attack, explained in greater detail what transpired that day.
As we reached the roundabout we saw security forces. Israeli security forces! We saw a large vehicle with Hebrew writing on it, ‘SECURITY FORCES’. The Hebrew writing is an important point because earlier as we were driving through the parade of terrorists their vehicles had writing in Arabic.
We automatically held our heads down. We knew they’d be suspicious of us. A small beat-up car going up in smoke, no tires, racing at unbelievable speed from the same direction the terrorists were coming. Our forces began shooting at us!
At this point the [cell phone] conversation with his parents got cut off. When our forces fired at us the car windows shattered and they could hear us screaming, ‘Don’t shoot! We’re Israelis!’
They immediately stopped shooting and yelled at us, ‘Run! Run!’ They put us in a mobile shelter unit.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel actually orchestrate the 9/11 attacks on the United States, as a false flag operation?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel Orchestrated 9/11 False Flag Attacks!
People are sharing photos or posts on X (formerly Twitter), which claim or suggest that Israel actually orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States, as a false flag operation!
Matt Wallace : Rumors are circulating that the Israeli government orchestrated 9/11 as a false flag attack to get the United States Military involved in their conflicts in the Middle East. Do you believe that is possible?
Stew Peters posted what appears to be an AI generated photo of Jews dancing in front of the World Trade Center towers exploding during the September 11 attack.
Jake Shields : The Mossad agents arrested dancing and recording on 9/11 shows at the Minimum they were aware the attack was taking place Benjamin Netanyahu also said the attack is great for Israel
This is yet another of FAKE NEWS circulating on X (formerly Twitter), and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Osama Bin Laden Took Credit For 9/11 Attacks
First, I should point out that Osama bin Laden himself publicly took credit for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Translation of audio message that was posted on Islamist website on 14 February 2003:
Osama bin Laden : “On the blessed Tuesday 11 September 2001 … they launched their attacks with their planes in an unparalleled and magnificent feat of valor, unmatched by any in humankind before them. … Yet with the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York, there occurred an even bigger destruction: that of the great American Dream and legend of Democracy.”
Osama bin Laden was even captured on video, acknowledging that Muhammad Atta was the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks:
Osama bin Laden : Muhammad (Atta) from the Egyptian family (meaning the al-Qaida Egyptian group), was in charge of the group.”
Saudi Sheikh : A plane crashing into a tall building was out of anyone’s imagination. This was a great job. He was one of the pious men in the organization. He became a martyr. Allah bless his soul.
Osama bin Laden : The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn’t know anything about the operation, not even one letter.
But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes. Then he said: Those who were trained to fly didn’t know the others. One group of people did not know the other group.
They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be patient. The difference between the first and the second plane hitting the towers was twenty minutes. And the difference between the first plane and the plane that hit the Pentagon was one hour.
Fact #2 : 9/11 Commission Confirmed Al Qaeda Was Responsible
The 9/11 Commission confirmed that al Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States, not Israel.
Its final report (link) detailed how the attack was planned and financed by al Qaeda, and conducted by 19 young Arabs. It also pointed out that Islamic extremists had given “plenty of warning” that they planned to “kill Americans indiscriminately and in large numbers”.
During the spring and summer of 2001, U.S. intelligence agencies received a stream of warnings that al Qaeda planned, as one report put it, “something very, very, very big.” Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet told us, “The system was blinking red.”
Although Bin Ladin was determined to strike in the United States, as President Clinton had been told and President Bush was reminded in a Presidential Daily Brief article briefed to him in August 2001, the specific threat information pointed overseas. Numerous precautions were taken overseas. Domestic agencies were not effectively mobilized.
The 9/11 Commission report also pointed out that it was Osama bin Laden who ordered the September 11 attacks to proceed.
As final preparations were under way during the summer of 2001, dissent emerged among al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan over whether to proceed. The Taliban’s chief, Mullah Omar, opposed attacking the United States. Although facing opposition from many of his senior lieutenants, Bin Ladin effectively overruled their objections, and the attacks went forward.
Fact #3 : Many Jews Died In September 11 Attack
Claims that the Mossad warned some 4,000 Jews who worked at the World Trade Center through Jew calls about the September 11 attack have been proven false time and time again.
Approximately 400 of those who died in the World Trade Center were confirmed, or strongly believed, to be Jewish – accounting for about 15% of all WTC victims that day. The US Department of State even compiled a partial list of 76 WTC victims who were confirmed Jewish.
The AI-generated photo that Stew Peters posted of Jews dancing as the World Trade Center towers exploded is based on the recurring narrative that the 9/11 attacks were a false flag operation conducted by Israel.
The problem though is that – there never was any evidence of Jews or Israelis dancing in delight as they watched the Twin Towers burn and then collapse.
Instead, news media only reported that people were celebrating news of the September 11 attacks in the Palestinian Territories, as well as some Middle Eastern countries like Egypt and Lebanon.
Conspiracy theorists who keep promoting this claim over the years have consistently fail to provide any evidence of dancing Jews / Israelis. That’s probably why they have to resort to creating such images using generative AI…
Fact #5 : Arrested Israelis Deny Involvement
There was only one known incident involving Israeli citizens – five men who were arrested after someone reported seeing three of them taking photos or videos of the World Trade Center on fire.
Three of the men were reportedly “happy” while taking photos or videos in Liberty Park, which is located opposite the World Trade Center on the New Jersey side of the river.
When police officers tracked down their van and pulled it over, one of the passengers told the officers that they had been on the West Side Highway in Manhattan when the September 11 attacks took place.
The driver – Sivan Kurzberg, told the officers that the Palestinians were “the problem”, not them. The other passengers were his brother, Paul Kurzberg, and their friends, Aaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner, and Omer Marmari.
We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.
I should point out that the Israelis were only seen taking photos or videos after the first plane had already hit the WTC, and not during the attack itself.
On top of that, they thought the attacks were carried out by Palestinians, when none of them were from Palestine. 15 of the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon.
Finally – there ultimately was no evidence that the five Israeli men were involved in the 9/11 attacks. Conspiracy theorists have certainly not provided any evidence to back up their claims.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Gal Gadot just return to Israel to join the fight against Hamas?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Updated @ 2023-11-11 : Added video, and some additional details. Originally posted @ 2023-11-10
Claim : Gal Gadot Returned To Israel To Fight Hamas!
People are sharing a photo on WhatsApp, Telegram and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which claims / suggests that Gal Gadot just returned to Israel to join the fight against Hamas!
James J. Marlow : Israeli actress Gal Gadot who played Wonder Woman in the Hollywood movie turns up at for army service.
The Geopolitical Index : BREAKING: Israeli actress Gal Gadot who played Wonder Woman in the Hollywood movie turns up at for army service.
Boiled Anda : Famous Israeli heroine & supper model Gal Gadot, back home to do military service 🤘💪🇮🇱this is called PATRIOTISM ❤️🇮🇱
Raziel conta oficial… : Gal Gadot a mulher maravilha apresentando se ao serviço militar em Israel
Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman, reporting for military service in Israel
Truth : Gal Gadot Did Not Return To Israel To Fight Hamas!
This is yet another of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp, Telegram, and social media platforms, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Gal Gadot Just Hosted Hamas Attack Screening
First, I should point out that Gal Gadot has not returned to Israel. She is still in the United States. In fact, she just hosted a controversial short film screening in Los Angeles, on Wednesday night, 8 November 2023.
The short film, which is titled “Bearing Witness to the October 7 Massacre”, was a 43-minute compilation of “extremely graphic and violent” videos that documented “the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th, 2023”.
The private screening was held at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, with some 200 people attending, including an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Hollywood executives.
Despite a heavy police presence, two opposing groups of people ended up clashing outside the event. But Gal Gadot was reportedly not in attendance at that time.
To be clear – Gal Gadot has not returned to Israel for military duty, and is currently still in the United States.
Fact #2 : Gal Gadot Photos Are 18 Years Old!
I should also point out that these photos are very old. They were definitely not taken recently.
Some fact checkers have stated that the photos were taken when Gal Gadot was called up for military service at 18 years old. That’s actually incorrect. The photos of Gal Gadot serving in the Israeli military are about 18 years old.
According to her publicist, Melissa Raubvogel, those photos were taken when Gal Gadot was 20 years old. That would mean they were taken sometime in 2005, not 2023.
Gal was 20 years old.
According to The Washington Post, Gal Gadot participated in the 2006 Lebanon War, which took place between Israel and Hezbollah from 12 July to 14 August 2006. That would confirm that the viral Gal Gadot military service photos were taken in 2005-2006, not in 2003 or 2023.
Fun fact : The viral photo of was taken by photographer Shaul Golan, as confirmed by Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot in 2017.
Like other Israeli citizens, Gal Gadot (born Gal Gadot-Varsano on 30 April 1985) was required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Military service is compulsory in Israel, with women required to serve for at least 24 months (men serve at least 32 months).
As part of her military service, Gal Gadot would have to learn basic military skills like how to use a gun, which would explain the photo of her posing with an Uzi submachine gun.
But she primarily served as a combat fitness instructor during her mandatory IDF service between 2005 and 2007, attaining the rank of Samal (Sergeant).
After her compulsory military service, she began studying at IDC Herzliya (now Reichman University), while working as a model and actress.
Fact #4 : IDF + Publicist Confirmed She Did Not Rejoin IDF
Just in case you still need convincing, her publicist, Melissa Raubvogel, confirmed that Gal Gadot really, truly did not rejoin the IDF.
She has not joined the Army in 2023.
A spokesperson for the IDF also said that Gal Gadot has not rejoined the Israeli army, and that the photo is “outdated”.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is Malaysia facing US sanctions after the US House of Representative passed a bill to sanction Hamas supporters?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Malaysia Faces US Sanctions Over Hamas Support!
People are sharing this warning on WhatsApp, which claims that Malaysia is facing US sanctions after the US House of Representative passed a bill to sanction Hamas supporters!
Malaysia already in RM1.5 trillion in debt and now will be sanctioned by US. Ringgit surely touch RM5 to US dollar and expect country to be affected economically resulting in more hardship for all Malaysians
The US House of Representatives approved a bill to sanction foreign supporters of supporters of the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad 4terrorist movements on Wednesday night.
Ready to brace another impact on our economy! 😭
To support the claim, the viral WhatsApp warning includes a link to an MSN article, which has the title – US House approves bill to sanction Hamas supporters
No Evidence Malaysia Faces US Sanctions Over Hamas Support!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created / propagated on WhatsApp, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : US House Bill Was Introduced In January 2023
First, I should point out that the US house bill in question – H.R. 340 :Hamas and Other Palestinian Terrorist Groups International Financing Prevention Act (PDF), was actually introduced on January 12, 2023 (history).
Also known as the “Hamas International Financing Prevention Act“, H.R. 340 was introduced almost 9 months before the terrible October 7 attack.
In short – this bill had nothing to do with the October 7 attack of Israel by Hamas, but its passage was accelerated by the attack.
Fact #2 : Bill Only Passed US House Of Representatives
Next, I should point out that the bill is not yet law – it only passed in the US House of Representatives, with a 363-46 vote.
The bill now heads to the US Senate for its consideration. It is uncertain whether this bill would actually pass in the US Senate in its current form.
Even if it passes the US Senate, it must be signed into law by President Joe Biden, who has the power to veto it. GovTrack rates it as having only 37% chance in being enacted.
Until it is signed into law – no country or entity faces US sanctions through this bill.
Fact #3 : MSN Article Did Not State Malaysia Faces US Sanctions
The MSN article – which is actually an article by The Jerusalem Post, was shared in the viral warning as “evidence” that Malaysia faces US sanctions over it support of Hamas.
However, anyone who spends just a few minutes to read the article would quickly realise that Malaysia was never mentioned at all. In fact, the article did not mention that any country is at risk of being sanctioned by the US for supporting Hamas.
Fact #4 : Sanctions Are Only Imposed On Foreign Persons
The bill – in its current form – only requires the US President to impose sanctions on any “foreign person” that:
a) “assists in sponsoring”, or providing “significant financial, material, or technology support” or “goods and other services” to enable acts of terrorism; or
b) engages, directly or indirectly, in a significant transaction with a senior member of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Lion’s Den, or their affiliates / successors.
However, HR340 leaves it to the President to determine which “foreign person” actually qualifies to be sanctioned. On top of that, the President can issue a waiver on a case-by-case basis.
Fact #5 : Only Limited Measures Are Imposed On Foreign States
The bill – in its current form – does not impose any sanctions on foreign states. It only imposes limited “measures” on foreign states that:
a) provides “significant material or financial support” for acts of terrorism; or
b) engages, directly or indirectly, in a significant transaction that contributes to the terrorist activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Lion’s Den, or their affiliates / successors.
Again, HR340 leaves it to the President to determine which “foreign state” actually qualifies to be targeted, and the President can issue a waiver on a case-by-case basis.
Even if a foreign state is identified by the US President as materially supporting terroristic activities by Hamas, HR340 only requires:
the President to suspend US assistance to that foreign state for at least 1 year,
the Treasury Secretary to oppose and vote against any loan, financial assistance, or technical assistance by any international financial institution to that foreign state for a period of 1 year
the President to prohibit the export of American weapons to that foreign state
Again – the bill does not technically impose sanctions on foreign states, only limited measures or penalties.
Fact #6 : HR340 Is Unlikely To Impact Malaysia At All
Even if it passes the US Senate in its current form, and is signed into law by President Joe Biden, HR340 – the Hamas International Financing Prevention Act is unlikely to have any impact on Malaysia.
For one thing – the bill only targets foreign states that provide “significant material or financial support for acts of international terrorism”.
And even if Malaysia is somehow identified as such a country, the limited measures imposed by HR340 will have minimal impact, if at all.
According to the US Department of State, the US government only invests $1 million annually to train Malaysian military service members as part of its International Military Education and Training. The US also provided $220 million in security assistance for the FY2018-2022 – about $44 million per year.
Assuming everything remained the same, Malaysia would only stand to lose a total of $45 million per year in US assistance. That’s a drop in the bucket – 0.05% of Malaysia’s 2023 budget of about $84 billion.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did an Israeli representative just TEAR UP a notice issued by the UN on Israel’s human rights violations in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War?!
Take a look at the viral video, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel Envoy Tore Up UN Human Rights Notice!
People are sharing a video, which claimed to show an Israeli representative tearing up a 20-page notice that the UN issued to Israel for violating human rights during the Israel-Hamas War of October 2023.
BIG BREAKING 🔥⚡️ UN issued 20-page notice to Israel that it has violated human rights Israeli representatives came on stage for 2 minutes, took the notice in their hands tore it, and threw it away saying that terrorists have no human rights. The World Loves Israel. #IsraelAttack #IsraelPalestineConflict #HamasWarCrimes
United Nations summoned Israel and gave them a report on human rights violations. Israeli representative come on the stage, tore the report and went away. 57 countries with green flags could do nothing about it. This is how a strong and powerful country answers.
Truth : Israel Envoy Tore UNHCR Report In 2021, Not 2023
We looked into the claim or suggestion that an Israeli representative tore up a notice that the UN issued to Israel for violating human rights, and here was what we found…
Fact #1 : Video Was Recorded In October 2021
The viral video is genuine, but it was recorded almost two years ago – on October 29, 2021.
This video has nothing to do with the October 2023 war between Israel and Hamas.
Fact #2 : It Was A Report, Not A Notice
The paper that was torn up in the viral video was not a notice that the UN issued to Israel for violating human rights. It was the UNHCR’s annual report.
Fact #3 : That Was Ambassador Gilad Erdan
The man in the video is Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who was addressing the UN General Assembly after the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) issued its annual report.
In his speech, he said that the UN had a history of anti-Israel bias, and referred to the 1975 General Assembly resolution that labelled Zionism as “racism” – a designation that was only revoked in 1991.
Today, I addressed the @UN General Assembly and spoke out against the baseless, one-sided, and outright false accusations from the Human Rights Council’s annual report.
…
It was on this stage at this very body that the very right of the Jewish people to have a national home was itself declared to be racist. A decision that was justly over-turned. A decision that Israel’s Ambassador at the time, Chaim Herzog, tore up before the United Nations.
So to, the Human Rights Council’s obsessive anti-Israel bias, embodied, once again, by this report, should have no place in any body concerned with human rights, security or peace. It’s only place is in the dustbin of antisemitism, and that is exactly how we shall treat it.
And that was when Gilad Erdan tore a page (or two) from the UNHCR annual report.
Gilad Erdan himself posted a video of his speech on X (formerly Twitter), confirming both the date and the circumstances behind his actions.
Today, I addressed the @UN General Assembly and spoke out against the baseless, one-sided, and outright false accusations from the Human Rights Council's annual report. 1/8 pic.twitter.com/b4YIv2jGaK
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 29, 2021
Fact #4 : Gilad Erdan Spoke For More Than 2 Minutes
The message that accompanied the viral video claimed that Gilad tore the report in his 2-minute speech. This may seem like a small point, but even this point is categorically false.
The video that went viral WhatsApp and social media is only 28 seconds long, and Gilad Erdan himself posted a video clip that lasted 1 minute and 29 seconds.
However, there is a longer video of his speech lasting over 3 minutes. So we know for a fact that Gilad spoke for at least 3 minutes, if not longer.
Fact #5 : Israel Has Been Condemned Many Times
Frankly, that is hardly the first time that Israel was condemned by the Human Rights Council and/or UNHCR; and it was unlikely to be the last time either.
As Gilad Erdan pointed out in the longer version of his viral speech, Israel had been condemned by the Human Rights Council with 95 resolutions so far.
Since the establishment of the council 15 years ago, it has decided to blame and condemn Israel not 10 times like Iran or 35 times like Syria….the Human Rights Council has attacked Israel with 95 resolutions. Compared to 142 against all other countries combined.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is highly-vaccinated Israel facing a dramatic surge in new COVID-19 cases?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Highly-Vaccinated Israel Sees Dramatic COVID Surge!
The infamous Died Suddenly account on X (formerly Twitter) just posted a screenshot of an article by Daniel Estrin which proclaims “Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases. Here’s Why“.
It has been shared by hundreds of people, with comments like these:
The NPR article explained how Israel was the first country on Earth to fully-vaccinated a majority of its citizens against COVID-19. That said, its “highly-vaccinated” status was only in comparison to the rest of the world.
As the article explained, Israel had only fully-vaccinated slightly over half its population by March 25, 2021; when it reopened its economy, even removing all restrictions in June 2021.
It also pointed out that only 58% of Israel citizens were fully vaccinated (at that time), which experts said isn’t high enough.
Fact #4 : NPR Article Clearly States Vaccination Helps
The NPR article explained how Israel was seeing a surge of new COVID-19 cases in August 2021, despite being highly-vaccinated. Protection from its early vaccinations waned, and coincided with the arrival of the more infectious Delta variant.
But while infection rates went up, the article also explained that “if you get infected, being vaccinated helps”. It pointed out that the rate of serious COVID-19 amongst unvaccinated people over 60 was 9X higher than the rate of serious COVID-19 in vaccinated people of the same age.
Fact #5 : Israel Does Not Currently Have Any COVID-19 Surge
Just in case you are wondering – Israel is not currently seeing any surge in new COVID-19 cases – dramatic or otherwise. In fact, Israel has recorded low numbers of COVID-19 cases in 2023, as this chart shows.
Fact #6 : This Is Just Fake News By Died Suddenly
This is ultimately just another example of fake news posted by the infamous Died Suddenly account on X (formerly Twitter). Here are other examples:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirm that Hamas is putting Israeli children in cages?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Israel FM Eli Cohen Confirm Hamas Put Children In Cages!
People are sharing articles which claim that Israel Foreign Minister recently confirm that Hamas is putting Israeli children in cages, after capturing them in their October 2023 raid!
Jewish News Syndicate : Israeli foreign minister: Israeli toddlers being held in cages in Gaza
(October 9, 2023 / JNS) Kidnapped Israeli toddlers are being held in cages in Gaza, Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Monday evening in a press conference in Israel.
Akron Jewish News : Israeli foreign minister: Footage of Israeli toddlers in cages in Gaza is real
Cleveland Jewish News : Israeli foreign minister: Footage of Israeli toddlers in cages in Gaza is real
Photos and videos of kidnapped Israeli toddlers being held in cages in Gaza are authentic, Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Monday evening in a press conference in Israel.
“They’re monsters, inhuman terrorists,” Cohen said. Adults are heard laughing in the video footage, as a camera pans across five crying children clinging to the bars of rows of cages.
Truth : Eli Cohen Said Hamas Put Children In Cages, But…
We looked into the claims that Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirmed in a press conference that Hamas were putting Israeli children it captured in cages, and here was what we found…
Fact #1 : Eli Cohen Did Actually Say That
None of those articles actually shared any video evidence of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirming that Hamas was locking up Israeli children in cages.
However, I located an ANI News recording of a livestreamed press conference (YouTube link), in which Eli Cohen can be seen saying this at around 1:55:
Even [in] the war between Russia and Ukraine, we did not saw murdering entire families, taking captives… small children, and putting them in cages. It’s vicious and evilness that I think the world did not saw before. I think that the only times we saw before was with the Nazis, and maybe with the ISIS.
Fact #2 : JNS Quietly Revamped Its Article
Despite video evidence that Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen did mention that Hamas was putting small children in cages, there appears to be some “walking back” of that claim.
The Jewish News Syndicate, on its part, appear to have quietly replaced its short article on Eli Cohen confirming that Hamas was locking up Israeli children in cages, to a more generic article called “Eli Cohen: ‘An evil that’s not created even by the devil’“.
However, JNS left its original URL as “https://www.jns.org/israeli-foreign-minister-toddlers-cages/” and we have an archive of its original post. If you compare it with the current post, you will see that they are completely different.
Both the Akron and Cleveland Jewish News websites appear to have obtained their articles as syndicated content from the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). They have not updated their articles.
On the other hand, I found an article by VINnews that appears to have also quietly removed references to Eli Cohen confirming that Hamas was locking up small children in cages.
Unfortunately, I could not locate an archive of its original post, but the URL suggests that the original title was possibly “Horrific: Israeli Foreign Minister Confirms Footage Of Israeli Toddlers In Cages In Gaza Is Real“.
Fact #3 : Children In Cages Video Not Related To Hamas Attack
We had earlier looked into the viral video showing small children in cages, and confirmed that it was unrelated to the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
For one thing – the viral video was posted on TikTok on 4 October 2023 – three days BEFORE the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.
A much older example of this viral video was posted on YouTube (archive link) on 27 January 2020. Palestine News claimed that the video showed Palestinian children locked in cages by the Israeli army, and was filmed in Hebron (not Gaza)
Israeli Army Kidnapping Palestinian Children and throwing them in Cages , in Occupied Hebron , VIA B’TSELEM
Several commentators (example) however, claimed that this video was originally recorded in Syria, around 2015. They (example) claimed that the video was recorded by a father who found his children playing in the chicken coop, and locked them up for a laugh. The man, who appeared to be the person recording the video, can be heard laughing heartily in the background.
Unfortunately, I cannot confirm (at the moment) whether this video shows Palestinian children being held captive by Israeli soldiers, or Syrian children locked in a cage by their father. The B’Tselem website, for example, has way too many references to children in cages, and I cannot locate the original video allegedly posted by the Syrian father.
What is certain is that – this video is at least several years old, and is therefore not related to the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is Hamas keeping Jewish children it kidnapped from Israel in cages in Gaza?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Updated @ 2023-10-11 : Added details of Israeli Foreign Minister’s confirmation Originally posted @ 2023-10-10
Claim : Jewish Children Held Hostage In Cages By Hamas!
Many people are sharing pictures and/or a video showing five children inside cages, claiming that they were being held hostage by Hamas after being kidnapped in its October 2023 attack on Israel.
Orthodox Canonist :Alleged footage of Hamas keeping children in cages. Why?
What purpose does this serve? Are they Israeli hostages? 🤔💭🇵🇸🇮🇱
Alon Tk : Jewish babies captive in birdcages in Gaza. These are crimes against Humanity. The whole world needs to see this. #Israel #Gaza
Ariel Dickmann : Jewish babies kidnapped and tortured in Gaza😡
Truth : Hamas Did Not Keep Those Children In Cages!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp, and social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), and here are reasons why…
Fact #1 : The Video Was Recorded Many Years Ago
First, I should point out that one example of this viral video can be found on YouTube (archive link) since 27 January 2020. It received little attention when it was released more than 3 years ago, garnering less than 60 views. Oddly enough, YouTube appears to have taken it down recently “for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines”.
Several commentators (example) have also claimed that this video was originally recorded in 2015. What is certain is that – this video is at least several years old, and is therefore not related to the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel.
The video was then posted by @user690306825181 (account now removed) on TikTok, where it went viral and was reposted to WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook.
Fact #2 : TikTok Video Was Posted Before Hamas Attack
The TikTok video itself was actually posted on 4 October 2023 – three days BEFORE the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel. Here’s the evidence that Fake Reporter on X found.
The TikTok video was not only posted three days earlier – on 4 October, it was being promoted on TikTok. The video therefore has absolutely nothing to do with the Hamas attack on Israel.
Fact #3 : The Video Does Not Show Jewish / Israeli Children
According to the YouTube channel – Palestine News, the video was recorded by B’Tselem – an Israeli NGO that documents human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
Palestine News claimed that the video showed Palestinian children locked in cages by the Israeli army, and was filmed in Hebron. Hebron, incidentally, is located in the West Bank, and not in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Israeli Army Kidnapping Palestinian Children and throwing them in Cages , in Occupied Hebron , VIA B’TSELEM
On the other hand, other commentators (example) claimed that the video was recorded by a father who found his children playing in the chicken coop, and locked them up for a laugh. The man, who appeared to be the person recording the video, can be heard laughing heartily in the background.
The laugh seems jovial, and the children do not seem particularly upset. One boy even appears to be smiling. Another commentator said that the guy was saying, “You guys gave me a hard time“, and “Don’t bite me“. That would give some credence to the claim that this was a fun video recorded by a father.
Unfortunately, I cannot confirm (at the moment) whether this video shows Palestinian children being held captive by Israeli soldiers, or Syrian children locked in a cage by their father. The B’Tselem website, for example, has way too many references to children in cages, and I cannot locate the original video allegedly posted by the Syrian father.
However, what seems certain is that these are not Jewish or Israeli children held captive by Hamas, as a result of their 7 October 2023 raid of Israel. After all – this video was recorded and posted before the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Fact #4 : Israel Foreign Minister Appeared To Confirm This
What arguably made this video go viral is the fact that some Jewish news media published reports that Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirmed that the video of Israeli children being held in cages in Gaza was genuine.
Cohen appeared to have made those comments during a live-streamed press conference. But it appears that it was a mistake, and some of those articles have removed references to the video, or Cohen’s claim.
Ultimately, this is just another example of misinformation circulating on WhatsApp, and social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), using misappropriated videos.
Here are some other examples that we fact checked recently:
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Truth : There Is No Israel Earthquake Seismic Wave Card!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp, and here are reasons why…
Fact #1 : There Is No Seismic Wave Card!
First, let me just point out that there is no such thing as a Seismic Wave Card.
The Seismic Wave Card is an Internet hoax that keeps getting recycled for every disaster that comes along, like these examples show:
They are going to upload some photos of the Moroccan earthquake on WhatsApp. The file is called Seismic Waves CARD, don’t open it and see it, it will hack your phone in 10 seconds and it cannot be stopped in any way. Share the information with your family and friends. DO NOT OPEN IT. They also said it on TV
They are going to upload some photos of the Cariaco earthquake on Whatsapp.The file is called WavesSeismic CARD, do not open or see it, it will hack your phone in 10 seconds and it cannot be stopped in any way.Pass the information on to your family and friends.DO NOT OPEN IT.They also said it on TV.
There is no need to open any file, or install any app, to view photos on WhatsApp. You simply click to view photos shared by other people on WhatsApp.
Of course, people may sometimes share high-resolution photos in ZIP or RAR files, because WhatsApp greatly reduces the resolution of photos shared on its platform.
Those ZIP or RAR files may be opened using apps like WinZip (Android | iOS) or RAR (Android) or Unarchiver (iOS). However, you should be wary if you are asked to download and install any app.
Unless you know what you are doing, it’s best to only view photos and videos directly inside WhatsApp, and not download any compressed files at all.
Fact #3 : Seismic Waves Card Is Not A Browser Hijacker
Seismic Waves Card appears to be falsely labelled as a browser hijacker by at least one “cybersecurity” website:
The scam message known as Seismic Waves Card is notorious for its disruptive behavior while surfing the web. Generally, scams like this, and other like Mintnav and Lookaside fbsbx, are crafted to meddle with your browser’s settings, replacing homepages and default search engines to promote affiliated sites and generate advertising revenue.
This transgression doesn’t end here; they siphon sensitive data and create vulnerabilities in your system’s security framework, providing a gateway for more perilous threats, such as malware and phishing schemes, to invade.
The protracted presence of Seismic Waves Card in your system exponentially escalates the risk of serious compromises, emphasizing the dire necessity for its immediate removal. Recognizing the malicious potential of such unwanted apps is essential in maintaining a secure and safe digital environment. Stay vigilant and prioritize your cybersecurity.
There is no evidence that a malware or browser hijacker called Seismic Waves Card exists. The article itself does not offer any evidence to prove its existence. In fact, the article and its guide on how to “remove” the malware appears to be generic, and may possibly be AI-generated.
Digital steganography is a method by which secret messages and other data can be hidden in digital files, like a photo or a video, or even a music file.
It is also possible to embed malicious code within a photo, but it won’t be a full-fledged malware that can execute by itself.
At most, it can be used to hide the malware payload from antivirus scanners, which is pretty clever to be honest… but it cannot hack your smartphone by itself.
Fact #5 : Image-Based Malware Requires User Action
In January 2019, cybercriminals created an online advertisement with a script that appears innocuous and would pass any malware check.
However, the image itself has an “almost white” rectangle that is recognised by the script, triggering it to redirect the user to the cybercriminals’ website. Once there, the victim is tricked into installing a Trojan disguised as an Adobe Flash Player update.
This is an incredibly clever way to bypass malware checks, but even so, this image-based malware requires user action.
You cannot get infected by the Trojan if you practice good “Internet hygiene” by not downloading or installing anything from unknown websites.
Fact #6 : Malicious Code Executes Immediately
If you accidentally download and trigger malware, it will execute immediately. It won’t take 10 seconds, as the hoax message claims.
There is really no reason for malware to wait before it infects your devices. Waiting will only increase the risk of detection.
Whether the malware serves to take over your device, steal your information or encrypt it for ransom, it pays to do it at the first opportunity.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Find out why many Western countries repeatedly voted against a UN resolution calling for global action against racism and discrimination!
Updated @ 2023-09-29 : Refreshed after message went viral again Originally posted @ 2023-04-30
Claim : The West Voted Against UN Anti-Racism Bill!
Pro-CCP netizens, as well as the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), are claiming that many Western countries like the US, the UK, and Canada voted against a UN resolution calling for global action against racism and discrimination!
UN introduced a bill that called for global action against racism and discrimination
Here’s Why The West Voted Against UN Anti-Racism Bill!
At first glance, it is easy enough to see why some netizens actually believe that Western countries are being hypocrites, with many sharing comments like these:
Hypocrites who tell you you have freedoms but actually you don’t. But you still think you do.
But the truth is – this is just another example of misinformation and propaganda created by the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛), and shared by anti-West netizens, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : It Was A 2020 UN Resolution Against Racism
First, let me just give you some context on the resolution (not a bill) in question.
The claim refers to the 2020 UN resolution called A global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
This resolution is not new, and has actually been introduced and voted on every year since 2014.
Fact #2 : It Was A Non-Binding Resolution
That UN anti-racism resolution is also non-binding, which means countries are not compelled to abide by it.
Fact #3 : Many Western Countries Voted Against UN Racism Resolution
Let me confirm that most Western countries voted No to that 2020 UN resolution against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.
Total voting membership : 193
Members voting Yes : 106
Members voting No : 14
Members abstaining : 44
Members who did not vote : 29
Countries that voted No that year were Australia, Canada, Czechia (Czech Republic), Congo, France, Germany, Guyana, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Netherlands, Slovenia, United Kingdom, and United States.
If this UN resolution seems familiar, that is because it is similar to the Anti-Nazi resolution that Russia has submitted every year since 2012, and one which many Western countries consistently voted against, or abstained from voting.
Like this anti-racism UN resolution, that anti-Nazi resolution was hypocritical in nature. Russia did not introduce it to fight Nazism or neo-Nazis, but to justify its annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia claims that it had to invade Ukraine to “denazify” it, and is using that UN resolution to justify its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to European Voice before the vote, Lithuania’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius, said that “no one should doubt that we are condemning fascism”, but, he continued, “under cover of this condemnation, Russia is pursuing its own agenda”.
Fact #4 : Western Countries Were Against Durban Declaration
Western countries have long boycotted the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), and the resulting Durban Review Conference that was called to implement it.
Even though the DDPA ostensibly has laudable goals – to eliminate “racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, it is being used to promote anti-Semitism, impose restrictions on free speech, and does not address discrimination against the LGBT community.
Our concerns about the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) are well-known, including its unfair and unacceptable singling out of Israel and its endorsement of overbroad restrictions on freedom of expression that run counter to the U.S. commitment to robust free speech. But we will always stand ready to work with others in the effort to combat racism, bigotry, and racial discrimination.
After another vote on the same resolution in 2021, the Biden Administration reiterated that the United States remain opposed to the DDPA and its “restrictions on freedom of speech and expression“.
As in previous years, we deeply regret that we cannot support this resolution, which does not genuinely focus on countering racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Among our concerns are the resolution’s endorsement of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA), the outcome of the Durban review conference and its endorsement of overbroad restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.
We reject any effort to advance the “full implementation” of the DDPA. We believe this resolution serves as a vehicle to prolong divisions , rather than providing an inclusive way forward for the international community to counter the scourge of racism and racial discrimination.
The United States also opposed the UN anti-racism resolution which called for UN States to implement Article 4 of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
And why is Article 4 of the CERD so offensive to the United States? After all, it calls for UN States to declare an offence punishable by law “all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred”, amongst other things.
That’s because the United States Constitution provides the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and association, and this includes even offensive beliefs like Nazism and racism.
As Nicholas Hill, the Deputy US Representative for ECOSOC explained on November 12, 2021, when the United States voted No on the similar Anti-Nazi UN resolution :
The United States Supreme Court has consistently affirmed the constitutional right to freedom of speech and the rights of peaceful assembly and association, including by avowed Nazis, whose hatred and xenophobia are vile and widely scorned by the American people. We nevertheless firmly defend the constitutional rights of those who exercise their fundamental freedoms to combat intolerance and express strong opposition to the odious Nazi creed and others that espouse similar hatreds.
For these reasons, the United States has voted against each new version of this resolution since 2005 and is, again, compelled to vote “No” on this resolution, and calls on other States to do the same.
Fact #6 : Western Countries Do Not Want To Pay Reparations
The United States also objected to the resolution because it called for “former colonial powers” to provide reparations. That is arguably one of the reasons why so many Western nations voted against the resolution, or at least abstained against it.
We also reject the resolution’s call for “former colonial Powers” to provide reparations “consistent with” the DDPA.
Regardless of the harm colonialism has done in the past, reparations have nothing to do with eliminating racism today and in the future, does it?
Fact #7 : Western Countries Are Less Homogenous Than China
Since the Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛) appears to be pushing this narrative, I should point out that Western countries are much less homogenous than China.
Most Western countries have a mix of different races, with a significant number of foreign immigrants. Hence, incidents of racism can appear to be more common, simply because their societies are less homogenous than China’s.
According to the China National Bureau of Statistics, there were 2.77 million foreigners living in China at the end of 2019. That may sound like a lot, but that is less than 0.2% of its population of 1.4 billion!
China proudly declares that it has many ethnic groups, but some 91.5% of its native population are Han Chinese. The 55 ethnic minorities constitute a mere 8.5% of its population.
In other words – China is an extremely homogenous society, so there are very few opportunities for racism. It doesn’t mean the Chinese are not racist. It just means that they just don’t have enough engagement with other races to show their tolerance or intolerance to different looks, cultures and beliefs.
Fact #8 : Western Countries Are More Equitable Than China
I should also point out that Western countries are more open to foreign immigrants, with many of them ending up in positions of political and economic power.
The United States, for example, allow foreigners who become its citizens to run for public office, and many do:
Mazie Hirono from Japan : Lieutenant Governor, US Representative, and US Senator for Hawaii
Pramila Jayapal from India : US Representative for Washington, and Washington State Senator
Young Kim from South Korea : US Representative for California
Ted Liu from Taiwan : US Representative for California
Ilhan Omar from Somalia : US Representative for Minnesota
Victoria Spartz from Soviet Union : US Representative for Indiana
It is the same even in business, where many foreign immigrants were able to rise to the top of their industries:
Sundar Pichai from India : CEO of Google
Satya Nadella from India : CEO of Microsoft
Elon Musk from South Africa : CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter
Jensen Huang from Taiwan : CEO of NVIDIA
Dr. Lisa Su from Taiwan : CEO of AMD
Even though there are many examples of racism in the United States, it remains far more equitable than China, where foreign immigrants do not have the same opportunities as the native Chinese.
Try asking your local pro-CCP activist to name any foreign immigrant who has rose to prominence in politics or business in China, and watch as they gape in stunned silence.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a central committee that consists of 205 full members, and 171 alternate members. Everyone of those 376 central committee members are Chinese natives – there are no foreign immigrants or their children. Not even a token immigrant just for show.
When the CCP Central Committee and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) proudly released their list of top 100 outstanding private entrepreneurs in 2018 – they were all Chinese natives as well. No foreign immigrants or their children were in the list.
This is really nothing more than yet another example of Chinese propaganda created by the infamous Chinese 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛).
All of the wumao articles that I looked at so far have proven to be false in most instances. So please watch out for such false claims. Here is just the latest dozen,.
Please help us fight fake news – SHARE this article, and SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.