Video Showing Fake Wound Makeup is Not Evidence of Pallywood
The Claim
A video that depicts Palestinians applying wound makeup is evidence of Pallywood.
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Emerging story
The video went viral on social media in mid-May 2021, with many saying that it shows Palestinians putting makeup on themselves to appear as though they are injured during the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
Many claimed it was evidence of Pallywood. For example, the below tweet uses a still from the video to claim that “This is #Pallywood.”
The hashtag #Pallywood went viral on Twitter, with many claiming that Palestinians are creating fake videos and photos to depict a false narrative about the ongoing crisis.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: Misbar’s investigation found that the viral video is actually a clip from a 2017 news report by Doctors of the World. We conducted a reverse image search of stills from the clip and found that the original video was part of a training exercise helping doctors learn how to triage wounded patients. The simulated wounds were intended to make the training exercise feel more realistic.
The original video is below.
The term Pallywood hearkens back to 2000, when a cameraman filmed a video that depicts a Palestinian child dying after being hit by gunfire in what famously became the “al-Durrah affair.” The clip published by France 2 cut the final few seconds, during which Muhammad al-Durrah allegedly moves his hand. Although the video seems to depict that he was hit by IDF fire, an Israeli committee determined that the IDF was not responsible for his death. Discussion of video manipulation, context, and whether or not al-Durrah even died took off as the video became an inflammatory talking point on both sides of the conflict.
Following the al-Durrah affair, American historian and author Richard Landes coined the term Pallywood to describe what he believes to be pro-Palestine manipulated media propaganda. The term has been used extensively to imply that Palestinians are creating a false narrative in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Since the video is from a 2017 training exercise and does not depict Palestinians falsifying wounds during the current conflict, we rate this claim as false.
