Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist who loves football, tennis and movies. Before joining Newschecker, he worked at the news desk of Hindustan Times in Mumbai.
Ruby leads Newschecker’s editorial, operations and planning. She served as news anchor, executive producer and senior output editor at the predecessor to New Delhi Television (NDTV), India’s leading national news network. Her more than ten-year career has spanned groundbreaking reporting from conflict zones as well as coverage of terror events, campaigns and gender issues. Ruby is an Emmy-nominated producer who has handled local and international assignments, including coverage of the 2011 Arab Spring, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on-the-ground reporting on Kashmir since 2009.
claim
Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has expressed support for Palestine amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
fact
The video contains altered visuals and has been shared with unrelated subtitles.
A video purporting to show Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo offering support to Palestine has gone viral on social media amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Online interest in pro-Palestinian celebrities or israel Several news articles collating their statements and views on the conflict can be seen here , here and here . Ronaldo, who is currently plying his trade at Saudi Arabian football club Al Nasr, has once again been the focus of various comments on social media, particularly regarding whether Ronaldo supports Palestine or Israel.
Also read: Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo wraps himself in Palestinian flag on pitch?
There have been multiple claims made recently about Ronaldo’s alleged support for Palestine, which we debunk in this article:
Claim 1
Cristiano Ronaldo refused to shake hands with “Israeli president” after receiving medal.
Fact checking/verification
Newschecker first ran a keyword search of “Palestine Cristiano Ronaldo supports”, “Does Ronaldo support Palestine” and did not find any credible news reports about the footballer’s recent pro-Palestinian statements.
Viral videos found online since 2019
Performing a reverse image search on the frame corresponding to Ronaldo’s first claim of refusing to shake hands with the “President of Israel” after winning a medal, we found This ESPN Australia and New Zealand tweetdated December 23, 2019, noted: “Ronaldo is not happy with his runners-up medal after Juventus lost to Lazio in the Italian Super Cup.”
Coverage of the event from international media organizations can be seen here , here and here , but none claimed that the Israeli president attended the ceremony.
The man in the video is not the president of Israel
When this video was posted online, we have confirmed it was in 2019, Reuven Rivlin Served as the tenth President of Israel from 2014 to 2021. A comparison of official photos of Rivlin shows that the person identified as the Israeli president in the viral video (see image, right) is not Reuven Rivlin (see image, right). left).
In fact, further investigation led us to several reports, as seen here and here , confirming that the man in the video was Luca Ferrari, an Italian politician who at the time served as Italy’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Result: Error
Claim 2
Ronaldo expressed his support for Gaza and Palestine by displaying two placards. One read: “I love Gaza and you?” The second read “All Con Palestine,” which means “Everyone for Palestine” in Spanish.
Fact checking/verification
Viral photo of Ronaldo found to have been digitally altered
A keyword search for claims made in a second viral video in which Ronaldo allegedly showed signs of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, we found Kian Sharifi tweeted on June 18, 2022, He serves as the BBC’s editorial director of monitoring Iran.
According to the tweet, an image depicting Cristiano Ronaldo holding a sign that read “Lorca Everything” was doctored or doctored in connection with the 2011 Lorca earthquake, which claimed nine lives. Our investigation found that during this period, Ronaldo, a member of the Real Madrid team, did go to the earthquake-stricken areas to express support for the victims.
In December 2022, Al Jazeera reported that Ronaldo had never made any public statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite false reports and doctored photos appearing regularly online. This suggests that Ronaldo has been exploited by malicious actors seeking to create the illusion that he supports either side, thus provoking a backlash from the public.
The report stated that “a widely circulated photo of Ronaldo holding a sign reading “Together with the Palestinians” in Spanish was also doctored and actually showed support for the victims of the 2011 Spanish earthquake.” The report further stated that Ronaldo was photographed wearing a Palestinian scarf, when in fact the flag represented the Palestinian Football Association.In addition, he met with many Israeli ministers and was photographed Show off one of his footballs The jersey was given to former Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Result: Error
As early as 2012, there were several cases of misinformation about the footballer and the conflict, including Ronaldo’s alleged donations to Palestine, which were debunked by multiple media outlets including the Associated Press and AFP.
Also read: 2016 ISIS execution video wrongly linked to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
source
image analysis
tweet, ESPN Australia and New Zealand, December 23, 2019
tweetKian Sharifi, June 18, 2022
Reported by France24, June 24, 2022
Al Jazeera Report, December 26, 2022
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Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist who loves football, tennis and movies. Before joining Newschecker, he worked at the news desk of Hindustan Times in Mumbai.
Ruby leads Newschecker’s editorial, operations and planning. She served as news anchor, executive producer and senior output editor at the predecessor to New Delhi Television (NDTV), India’s leading national news network. Her more than ten-year career has spanned groundbreaking reporting from conflict zones as well as coverage of terror events, campaigns and gender issues. Ruby is an Emmy-nominated producer who has handled local and international assignments, including coverage of the 2011 Arab Spring, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on-the-ground reporting on Kashmir since 2009.