Old images and footage of Palestinian Ahed Tamimi confronting Israeli soldiers were posted on social media and labelled as “brave” Ukrainian girl confronting Russian soldiers.
A Twitter account posted Tamimi’s images with a comment: “Brave 8-year-old Ukrainian girl, c0nfronts a Russian Soldier telling him to go back to his country.”
Suzanne Cambar La Sue, a Twitter activist, replied: “Old photo of Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian activist arrested in 2017 by Israel, has been shared online under the false claim that she is a Ukrainian girl standing up to a Russian soldier.”
La Sue said that the image dates back to a 2012 incident showing Tamimi – then aged 11 – confronting an Israeli soldier, stating that this is “false information.”
Another user said that this is a form of “disinformation”, noting that it is easy to know that the image was not taken in Ukraine because it is very cold there and no one would be out in a sleeveless top.
On TikTok, a clip of the same confrontation between Tamimi and the Israeli occupation soldiers asks viewers to pray for Ukraine. The clip has been widely viewed, liked, and shared.
Many have highlighted how much coverage her picture is receiving now when she is being listed as Ukrainian compared to at the time of the event when she was correctly identified as Palestinian standing up to the Israeli occupation.