📌 CLAIM: Yemen has declared conflict towards Israel.

THE FACTS: Yemen’s internationally acknowledged authorities has not declared conflict on Israel. Houthi rebels that management the nation’s capital launched missiles at Israeli targets this week and threatened additional assaults. But consultants say the Iran-backed militia stopped in need of declaring an all-out conflict towards the Jewish state.

Social media customers are sharing a video of a a navy chief wearing fight fatigues talking in Arabic, which they are saying reveals Yemen has grow to be the primary regional energy to formally enter the newest Israel-Hamas conflict. “BREAKING: YEMEN DECLARED THEY ARE NOW AT WAR WITH ISRAEL,” wrote one person who shared the transient clip in a publish on X, previously Twitter. “The Republic of Yemen is the first country officially to announce its entry into the ‘Battle of the Flood’ of Al-Aqsa and launches a large number of ballistic and winged missiles and drones at a number of Israeli IOF targets inside occupied Palestine.”

But Yemen’s official authorities did no such factor. The Houthis, a insurgent group that controls the nationwide capital of Sanaa, introduced Tuesday that it had launched missiles and drones at Israel. Israel’s navy mentioned its fighter jets and missile protection system intercepted the salvos outdoors of Israeli territory. The Houthi navy mentioned Wednesday it fired one other batch of drones in direction of Israeli targets “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.”

But the Republic of Yemen, the nation’s internationally-recognized authorities, is led by the Presidential Leadership Council, defined Thomas Juneau, a professor on the University of Ottawa in Canada who focuses on Yemen. That authorities, which has no relations with the Houthis, splits its time between Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, and Aden, in southern Yemen. “The Houthis are the de facto authority in Sanaa, the capital, but it is indeed inaccurate to say that ‘Yemen’ (or the Republic of Yemen) has declared war on Israel,” Juneau wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.

Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow on the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy, agreed, including that Iran and Syria are the one two nations to have embassies working in Sanaa, underscoring the group’s lack of worldwide legitimacy. And whereas the rocket and drone strikes are a big escalation, the insurgent group’s assertion stops in need of committing to an all-out effort to destroy Israel, he mentioned.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed militia, mentioned in a televised assertion that the insurgent military would launch different strikes at Israel till it halted its assaults on Palestinians territories, which got here in response to Hamas’ shock assault on Oct. 7. “It implies that if Israel stops bombing Gaza they will halt attacking Israel,” Riedel wrote in an e-mail Wednesday, referring to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory that has acquired the brunt of Israel’s assaults.

Officials with Yemen’s embassy in Washington didn’t reply to emails in search of remark Wednesday. The Houthis seized Sanaa and far of the nation’s north in 2014. The takeover sparked a regional proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran that has killed greater than 150,000 folks and created one of many world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

📌 CLAIM: Pro-Palestinian rallies on the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pennsylvania referred to as for “Jewish genocide.”

THE FACTS: The chant uttered in movies of current demonstrations is being misrepresented. Protestors aren’t saying “We want Jewish genocide,” however “Israel, we charge you with genocide.” Experts and advocates say it’s a typical chorus heard at pro-Palestinian rallies.

One video being miscaptioned reveals a bunch of individuals chanting protest slogans as they marched by way of the UCLA campus final week. “In UCLA hundreds of students chanting: ‘Israel Israel you can’t hide, we want Jewish genocide’,” wrote one Instagram person in a publish sharing the video final week. “This is not 1930s Germany, this is in Los Angeles October 26th 2023!”

Another video captures comparable sounding protest chants at Penn’s campus in Philadelphia on Oct. 16. “Students @uofpenn gathered chanting ‘We want Jewish genocide’ ‘there is only 1 solution’ in reference to the Nazis ‘final solution’,” wrote an Instagram person who shared the clip in a publish. “There has possibly never ever been a more dangerous time to be a Jewish student as Antisemitism continues to grow as a disease.”

But the anti-Israel chants are being misquoted, Jewish and pro-Palestinian teams say. The protestors are literally chanting, “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide: We charge you with genocide,” the Anti-Defamation League, which continuously speaks out towards anti-Semitism and extremism, confirmed in an e-mail Tuesday. It’s a well-known chorus at anti-Israel rallies, however non-Israel-related variations are additionally heard at different protests, the New York-based Jewish group famous on a web page on its webpage debunking false details about the continuing battle.

Penn Students Against the Occupation, which organized the Penn rally, dismissed the claims as “blatant disinformation” in an announcement posted on Instagram. The chants final week at UCLA had been equally misquoted, the college mentioned on a webpage correcting misinformation associated to campus occasions. Dan Gold, who heads Hillel UCLA, a significant Jewish group on campus, famous his group has referred to as out the rally for its dangerous rhetoric in its public statements. But he personally noticed the protest and confirmed there was no direct name to exterminate Jews.

📌 CLAIM: An advert for British division retailer Marks & Spencer reveals a Palestinian flag burning in a fire.

THE FACTS: The picture reveals crimson, inexperienced and silver paper hats — historically worn at British Christmas dinners — burning in a fire. It’s an outtake from a Christmas industrial filmed in August that was meant to “playfully” illustrate how folks don’t get pleasure from some Christmas traditions, together with donning the hats.

On social media, some had falsely claimed the picture depicted a burning Palestinian flag.“MARKS AND SPENCER SHOW THE PALESTINIAN FLAG BURNING IN A PROMO,” reads one publish on X, previously Twitter. “Their hashtag makes it clear that they intended to burn the Palestinian flag.” The publish had acquired roughly 5,900 likes and greater than 4,900 shares by Thursday.

But the picture, which the corporate faraway from its social media accounts after the problem arose, was meant to poke enjoyable at a British Christmas custom, not malign Palestinians, Marks & Spencer wrote in an announcement shared on its social media websites on Wednesday. “Today we shared an outtake image from our Christmas Clothing and Home advert, which was recorded in August,” the assertion reads. “It showed traditional, festive coloured red, green and silver Christmas paper party hats in a fire grate. While the intent was to playfully show that some people just don’t enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats over the festive season, we have removed the post following feedback and we apologise for any unintentional hurt caused.”

In a caption on its since-deleted Instagram publish, Marks & Spencer wrote, “This Christmas, do only what you love… like saying no to paper hats (although, if we’re honest, we’re partial).” The sentiment is echoed within the closing model of the industrial, which options “Queer Eye” style knowledgeable Tan France, singer Sophie Ellis Bextor, and actors Zawe Ashton and Hannah Waddingham. The newest Israel-Hamas conflict started on Oct. 7 after Hamas launched a lethal incursion into southern Israeli cities — greater than a month after the Marks & Spencer industrial was filmed.— Associated Press author Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

📌 CLAIM: A video displaying our bodies transferring after being coated by white cloths is proof that deaths are being faked by Palestinians and Hamas throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict.

THE FACTS: The video is from 2013 and reveals college students protesting at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. It is the newest occasion of social media customers making false accusations that “ crisis actors ” and “ staged ” occasions are getting used to magnify the human toll being taken by the conflict.

The video pans throughout a number of our bodies coated with white cloths, stopping at instances to focus on motion. At one level, the digicam cuts to a close-up as the fabric on one physique is lifted to disclose a person who’s laughing. “Wake up World They think you are fools! The masters of fake news,” reads one caption on the video shared on Instagram. “Welcome the Palestinians & their Hamas”.

But the unique video was printed on Oct. 28, 2013, by an Egyptian information outlet on YouTube. It reveals college students protesting at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. “A representation of dead bodies inside Al-Azhar University,” reads the translated video title.“Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood students at Al-Azhar University organized a massive demonstration in front of the college administration building,” reads the video description. The Associated Press reported on Oct. 20, 2013, that the scholars had been supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who was overthrown by the navy a few yr after taking workplace.