Unrelated Clip From New York Falsely Shared as One of Protest Against Israel

It shows traffic congestion caused due to people performing stunts and not Palestinians protesting against Israel.

Fact-Check: This video is unrelated to pro-Palestine protests and simply show traffic congestion at a freeway in New York. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

A video showing a traffic jam caused by people performing car stunts is being shared on social media.

What are the users saying?: Users have shared the video claiming that a protest was held in the middle of a highway with 'men waving the Palestinian flag' on the Long Island Expressway (LIE) in New York.

• This comes after Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's statement, which urged people to protest against Israel and launched a 'day of Jihad' on 13 October.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

What is the truth?: While this video is from New York, it does not show a pro-Hamas protest.

• Tim McNicholas, a CBS investigative reporter, shared a similar video on X showing car stunts causing traffic congestion on the Cross Bronx Expressway near Throgs Neck, New York.

• He clarified that the video was not taken on the LIE and does not show the Palestine flag, as claimed.

How did we find out?: We divided the video into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search on some.

• We came across a similar video on CBS investigative reporter, Tim McNicholas's X (formerly Twitter) account that was uploaded on 11 October 2023.

• We compared the keyframes of both videos and noticed similarities.

The sign board and the white car is present in both the videos. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• The reporter posted the video on his X account expressing about the congestion on the highway.

• On 13 October, he added a clarification under the original tweet stating that it was not a Palestinian flag.

• We observed the flag and noticed that it showed the Puerto Rican flag, and not Palestine's flag.

Here is a comparison between the flag in the viral video and the Puerto Rican flag. 

(Source: X/Shutter Stock/Altered by The Quint) 

Here is a comparison between the Puerto Rican flag and the Palestinian flag. 

(Source: X/Shutter Stock/Altered by The Quint) 

The video was not shot on the Long Island Expressway, but on the Cross Bronx Expressway, near the exit to Randall Avenue.

• The Quint has reached out to McNicholas and will update this article as and when he responds.

• The Daily Mail reported Khaled Meeshal's made his statement, urging people to protest against Israel on 13 October that is, Friday calling it the 'Global day of jihad' on 11 October as well.

Latest updates on Israel and Palestine: The present death toll stands at 3480 Palestinians who have lost lives because of the Israeli attacks.

• United States of America (USA) President Joe Biden has appreciated Egypt for opening the Rafah crossing to transport "20 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza," as reported by Al Jazeera.

• Heavy bombardment and Israeli air raids last night claimed a dozen lives in Gaza.

Conclusion: While we were unable to independently verify whether the people performing stunts were Palestine supporters, we can confirm that the viral claim is misleading and the video does not show a Palestinian flag.

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