Israeli Flag Isn't Raised in Lebanon

Hind Khoudary

Politics

14th October 2020

The Israeli flag has been added using Photoshop (Screenshot).

The Claim

Israeli and Lebanese flags raised side-by-side as the series of indirect talks between Israel and Lebanon begin.

News posted on

Emerging story

As Lebanon and Israel held a short opening round of indirect talks on October 14, 2020, a picture of the Israeli and Lebanese flags side-by-side went viral.

A user claimed that after the talks took place, there have been preparations to raise the Israeli flag. The user claimed that the flag was raised on top of the tent in Naqoura; where the talks were held.

Social media users across the MENA region shared the claim with the pictures expressing their anger. Users also described such acts as normalization with Israel.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar's investigation found the circulating claims false.
Here are some facts:

1)Location:
The opening round of discussions was held at the headquarters of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura. It was not held in a tent as mentioned in the circulating claims.

2)Israel and Lebanon are officially enemies:
Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations and are technically in a state of war. The session was mediated by US officials and both sides insisted the series of talks are purely technical and not a sign of any normalization of ties.

3)Date of the picture:
Using Tin Eye, we found that the picture was first found 2016. It has nothing to do with the current indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel.

4)Fabricated picture:
During our investigation, we found a thread on Twitter by August Graham that shows how the picture in the claim is fabricated.

So I cropped this new photo to exclude the yellow flag and analysed the background. And sure enough, the terrain is identical, and there are even markings on the flagpoles that are the same in both pictures (excuse my fuzzy arrows, not sure what happened there) (6/16) pic.twitter.com/KQJ8bEniBN
— August Graham (@AugustGraham) August 5, 2020

Graham's investigation shows that the flag that has been replaced by Israel's flag is the Palestinian one.

Nope. Look at the Lebanese flag. It is identical in both pictures. It is blowing in the wind in the same way, and it has caught the sun exactly the same in both pictures too. This is clearly impossible if there were two separate photos. (8/16) pic.twitter.com/4HDZDHIfbN
— August Graham (@AugustGraham) August 5, 2020

Graham investigated the picture after Beirut's explosion when the Israeli Defense Forces tweeted the photo.

Under the guidance of the @Israel_MOD and @IsraelMFA, Israel has offered to send humanitarian & medical assistance to Lebanon via security and international channels.

This is the time to transcend conflict. pic.twitter.com/tUvGFTGBeR
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 4, 2020