Recently, a video went viral on social media depicting a man being physically assaulted by another man while speaking in Parliament. Users who shared the video claimed it shows a member of the Israeli Parliament attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his address to the Parliament.
The caption of the post states, “A member of the Israeli Parliament attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he was addressing the members of Parliament.”
Let’s check the truth.
Fact check:
When we checked, there are no credible reports or news sources confirming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attacked or beaten up by Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Israeli Knesset (parliament).
Next, we started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google, and the results led us to a video uploaded on the Associated Press YouTube channel in January 2013. The video shows Bulgarian police detaining a man who pointed a gas pistol at a Turkish minority party leader during a speech at a party caucus in Sofia.
Moving forward, news reports from The Guardian identified the gunman as Oktai Enimehmedov. According to police, Enimehmedov was holding a gas pistol loaded with pepper spray, while two other “bullets” were simply noisemakers. He pointed the gun at Dogan’s head during a party congress in Sofia, the capital, but he did not pull the trigger, the report stated.
we have also found a report on CNN that provides further context to the incident. The video footage from CNN shows a gunman attempting to shoot the leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party, Ahmed Dogan, during a national conference in 2013.
The gunman, who had mounted the stage where Dogan was delivering his speech, pointed a gas pistol at him. However, no shots were fired, and the situation was quickly brought under control by security personnel.
A video and news report about Bulgarian police detaining a man who mounted a stage and pointed a gas pistol at an ethnic Turkish party leader has also been widely shared and published by major international news outlets. You can find them here and here.
The original video shows Bulgarian police detaining a man after he pointed a gas pistol at a Turkish minority party leader while he was delivering a speech at a party caucus in the capital, Sofia, back in January 2013.
An old video of an attack on a Bulgarian leader in 2013 was falsely shared as the Israeli PM was thrashed in Parliament.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This viral video shows an attack on a Bulgarian leader that occurred in 2013. It is unrelated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Title: 2013 video of attack on Bulgarian politician falsely shared as attack on Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli Parliament
Fact Check By: Usha Manoj
Result: False
