Social media accounts recently published a video clip showing shooting at a mosque minaret, claiming that it was in Gaza. The video was accompanied by the following text: “Unusual. Israeli soldiers shot at the minaret of a mosque in Gaza during the call to prayer.”
Kashif verified the video via “Google Images” and found that it is old and the claim is misleading. The video circulated in 2008 and shows US forces targeting of a mosque in Iraq.
On 17/3/2008, democracy now published a video documenting a meeting of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the US state of Maryland, as part of an event organized by the Iraq Veterans Against the War organization in 2008, to testify in the “Winter Soldier” case, an indictment of eyewitnesses to the atrocities committed by US forces during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among these testimonies is the testimony of soldier John Michael Turner, who served in the US Marines in Iraq. Turner spoke about the most prominent violations committed by US forces during their presence in Iraq in 2006.
The video clip is from 17:26 to 17:56 minutes into the video documenting the event, and John Turner commented on the clip, that the US forces targeted mosques in Iraq, which is considered illegal unless there is a source of fire from inside the mosque, according to his description. He added that there was no fire from inside the mosque shown in the video, while the forces opened fire out of anger.
Director Michael Moore posted the video on his YouTube channel on 16/3/2008, with the following title: “Winter Soldier: US Marines Shoot Mosques for No Justification.”
The channel added in the video description: “The testimony of Corporal John M. Turner (3/8 Kilo Company, 1st Platoon, USMC) on March 15, 2008 included these two videos showing Turner’s squad firing on mosques without provocation, which constitutes a violation of international law.”
The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Gaza Strip announced in a statement on 5/10/2024 that the army had destroyed about 79% of the mosques in the Strip since 7/10/2023. The statement explained that the Israeli occupation had destroyed 814 mosques out of 1,245, while about 148 mosques were damaged.
Sources of Verification | Sources of Claim |
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