A video shows a Croatian mayor slapping a Hamas supporter who shouts Allahu Akbar at him.
The ‘Allahu Akbar’ audio has been added to the video later. The original video comes from a 2002 documentary and shows a former boxer in Hamburg hitting someone.
A video of a man being interviewed in the street before hitting someone who interrupts the interview is being shared online with claims it shows the mayor of a Croatian city and a “Hamas supporter” who says the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar”.
One version of the video has been shared 1,000 times.
This isn’t what the clip shows. It was filmed more than 20 years ago in Germany and the man who approaches the camera crew in the video does not say “Allahu Akbar”. This audio has been added in later.
The video comes from a 2002 documentary called Der Boxprinz about the boxer Norbert Grupe, and shows Stefan Hentschel, a former boxer and brothel-owner showing a camera crew around St Pauli, Hamburg. Mr Hentsche hits the unidentified man before asking him in German: “Do you have a problem? Go ahead!” before leading away the camera crew and greeting a friend called Werner.
The video went viral over a decade ago, and Mr Hentschel went on to sell shirts with that phrase on them.
Many of the recent posts falsely claim the video shows a mayor in Croatia, and some specifically suggest he is the mayor of Zagreb. But Zagreb’s actual mayor, Tomislav Tomašević, looks nothing like Mr Hentschel.
We’ve fact checked a number of miscaptioned videos being shared in the wake of the conflict in Israel and Gaza. Most recently, we wrote about a video of an Iraqi MP discussing Islamic State with claims it shows a captured Israeli woman and a video of football fans in Brazil claimed to show pro-Palestinian protesters in France.
Misinformation spreads quickly during significant global events like this, so it’s especially important to consider whether something really shows what it claims to before sharing. You can read more about how to do this in our guide on how to fact check misleading videos.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the video does not show a Hamas supporter being struck by a Croatian mayor.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.