Years-old image does not show an Israeli soldier pinning a child to the ground
CLAIM: A photo shows an Israeli soldier pinning a child to the ground with his foot while pointing a rifle in the child’s face.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The photo, which dates to at least 2012, has been cropped to show only a man’s legs, omitting key details that make it clear he is not a member of the Israeli military, such as the type of rifle he is carrying and details on his uniform. The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed to The Associated Press that the man, as seen in an image showing his entire body, is not one of its soldiers.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing the old, cropped image, pointing to it as an example of Israeli aggression.
In the photo, a young child lies calmly on a city street holding a white piece of paper with red text. A boot that appears to belong to a soldier is planted on the child’s chest and a rifle is pointed toward their face, though only the end of the barrel is visible.
“THIS IS HOW ISRAELIS TREAT CHILDREN,” reads one tweet that had received approximately 26,000 likes and 20,800 shares as of Wednesday.
But there are multiple signs in an uncropped image of the scene, which shows the man’s entire body, that he is not part of the Israeli military.
In a 2012 blog post, the Israeli Defense Forces noted “the use of an AK-47 rifle, which the IDF doesn’t use, as well as inconsistencies with the imposter’s uniform.” Indeed, an Israeli flag that appears to be made of paper is affixed to the man’s uniform.
The Israeli military confirmed to the AP in a statement that the man “is not an IDF soldier.” In the 2012 blog post, they said the photo, which has been misrepresented online for at least 12 years, was staged.
Other details suggest that there is little urgency about what is happening in the photo. For example, a young girl sits calmly next to the child lying on the ground while a crowd of onlookers, some smiling, casually watch the events unfold. Other people at the scene are not even looking at the man and the child, their attention focused on something else off camera.
Although it’s unclear where the photo was taken or what it actually shows, blog posts and media reports have posited it’s from a 2009 street performance in Bahrain or protests in Syria.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.