By Anmol Alphonso
An old photo of journalist Hanna Mahameed continuing to broadcast on TV with her head bandaged after being wounded during a clash between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem is being shared misleadingly linking it to the ongoing Israel - Hamas conflict.
According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Israel - Hamas conflict has taken a severe toll on journalists since Hamas launched its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. As of November 6, 2023, the CPJ reports that at least 36 journalists and media workers were among the estimated 11,000 people killed since the war began on October 7, with more than 9,700 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank, and 1,400 deaths in Israel.
The photo was tweeted by the X (formerly Twitter) handle sheree (@tinyfleu) with the caption, "Journalist Hana Mahameed back on screen after being hit in face by 'Israeli grenade' in East Jersualem. Was Hamas hiding in her face?"
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The same photo is also being shared on Facebook with the misleading claim.
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Also Read:October Was Rife With Misinformation About The Israel-Gaza War: BOOM Monthly Report
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is from October 2015, when Hanna Mahameed, a TV reporter for Al-Mayadeen TV, a Lebanese TV station, went on back air after she was hit in the face from a short distance by a sound grenade allegedly fired by Israeli police during a clash with Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem.
We found several X replies to the viral tweet stating that the photo is from 2015 and not linked to the recent conflict, and sharing a 2015 tweet with the same photo.
Taking a hint from that, we ran a keyword search and found several news reports on the viral photo from 2015.
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The Guardian reported on October 5, 2015, that Mahameed, who works for Lebanese-based Al-Mayadeen TV, was allegedly hit by a projectile grenade fired by Israeli police on October 4, 2015. The report further stated that the footage showed Mahameed screaming in pain and her flak jacket being ripped off after being hit, before she was taken to hospital to be treated for burns to her face. Mahammed later appeared on air with her face covered with bandages, and the video of her in bandages had then gone viral on social media.
Mahammed was present there covering the riots outside the home of Fadi Alloun, who was shot to death after stabbing and moderately wounding a 15-year-old Israeli boy.
The report quoted Israeli police claiming that the clash took place while Israeli forces were detaining the father of a Palestinian teenager who had stabbed and wounded an Israeli teen.
In August 2016, Israeli newspaper The Haaretz reported that Israel's Justice Ministry had closed the case of a policeman who threw a stun grenade at a Mahammed because it claimed it wasn’t able to identify the policeman responsible.
Mahammed had then reacted to the decision of the Justice Ministry stating that she wasn’t surprised by this decision, as it “fits with the police’s policy of turning a blind eye to cases of injury to journalists who expose the abuses of the Israeli occupation,” reported The Haaretz.
