FACT CHECK: Video Doesn’t Show Doctors Without Borders Medic Giving A Militant A Rifle
A video shared on Instagram claims to show a Doctors Without Borders medic giving a Palestinian militant a rifle.
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Verdict: Misleading
The person in the video is not a member of Doctors without Borders, according to the organization. He is also wearing the vest of a different organization.
Fact Check:
Clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces in the West Bank have been ongoing for weeks, according to The Associated Press. Palestinian health officials said that a clash in Jenin, which is located in the Palestinian territories, killed at least 8 Palestinians, with at least one militant dying, the outlet reported.
Social media users have been sharing a video of a man with a vest grabbing a rifle from a dying militant and giving it to another man, who proceeds to open fire. One user wrote, “In this video taken today in Jenin, a medic from ‘Doctors without Borders’ went to a terrorist who was shot by the IDF, lifted him up and took his weapon then brought it to another terrorist.”
This claim, however, is highly misleading. The person in the video is wearing a vest with the letters “PMRS” written on it. PMRS likely stands for the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, which operates in the West Bank, according to the organization’s website. An image on the organization’s Facebook page shows people with similar vests.
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders told The Associated Press that the person pictured is not a medic for the organization, and the organization does not operate in the area where the video was filmed. (RELATED: Does Video Show U.S. Military Preparing For War?)
“The person depicted in the video is clearly not wearing an MSF logo or any other identification related to MSF. MSF staff do not wear orange vests seen in the video. Our staff around the world are required to wear MSF identification (T-shirt, gear) because it is one of the main protections that we have: our medical identity and credibility,” the spokesperson said.
Doctors Without Borders medics also wear white vests with the organization’s logo, not orange vests, according to the outlet.
