Israeli flag-painted donkey and the donkey set on fire images show two different events from 2011 and 2014!

Claim

Rating

Explanation

Since October 7, at least 37,266 Palestinians have died and 85,102 have been injured in Israel’s attack on Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. In this instance, a lot of pictures and videos are posted on social media that connect it to the time of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Here, a collage-style image is shared with us that features donkeys in two of the frames. The collage’s lower portion depicts a donkey lying down and smoldering on the side of the road, while the image’s upper portion features a donkey with an Israeli flag painted on it. 1.6 million people have already viewed this image while we write this story.

This post is shared with a claim stating, “A donkey was painted with the Israeli flag and tortured, and another donkey with the Israeli flag was burned by Palestinians. This poor animal!” You can view similar claim posts here and here.

A donkey was painted with Israeli flag and tortured, another donkey with Israeli flag was burned by Palestinians.

This poor animals!

(Azat Alsalem on X) pic.twitter.com/icwv3lGtz5

— Benjamin Rapture Ready (@TheBelieverJC) June 13, 2024

What’s the truth?

We used the viral image to begin our investigation with a simple Google reverse image search. We found the same image posted on the stock image portal Getty Images by searching for the photo of a donkey adorned with an Israeli flag. The picture said, “Palestinians display a donkey painted as the Israeli flag.”

While we looked into the description of the image it read “Palestinians display a donkey painted as an Israeli flag during a demonstration to support the Palestinian bid at the United Nations for statehood recognition on September 23, 2011, in the West Bank village of Kfar Kadum. Palestinians across the West Bank prepared to celebrate the formal submission of their bid to become a UN member state, despite opposition from Washington and Israel. AFP PHOTO/JAAFAR ASHTIYEH.”

On the flip side, our reverse image search of the second collage picture, which showed a burning donkey, took us to the August 2014 stock photo website Getty Images. Here the image was captioned as “In Cairo to try to extend the 72-hour truce. The ceasefire.”

When we looked into the description of the image it read “Palestinians burn the donkey, who was killed earlier by an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 6, 2014, while Israeli and Palestinian delegations prepared for crunch talks in Cairo to try to extend the 72-hour truce. The ceasefire, which came into effect on August 5, has brought relief to both sides after one month of fighting killed 1,875 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/NurPhoto)”

The information above explains and validates that the two donkey photos depict two distinct scenarios that have nothing to do with one another.

This particular donkey displaying the Israeli flag is from a protest in the West Bank town of Kfar Kadum in 2011. The burning donkey, on the other hand, is from 2014 and was killed in the southern Gaza Strip by an Israeli airstrike.

Conclusion:

Thus, we conclude that the viral claim stating that a donkey was painted with the Israeli flag and tortured to death by burning is false and misleading. The current Israel-Palestine conflict has nothing to do with the two donkeys, that are from two separate periods in history.

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