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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,834 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYWar & conflict

A Muslim man from Azerbaijan holding an Israeli passport tried to blow himself up at a restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal with a grenade

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media video said to show an Azerbaijani man with an Israeli passport attempting to blow up a restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal. It reports that the video’s account of an attempted bombing misrepresented what happened: the man was a tourist trying to order pomegranate juice, not someone attempting an attack. The review’s account also contradicts the claim that he was Muslim, stating that the reports it found described him as an Azerbaijani tourist who spoke Russian. To investigate, the publisher says it ran a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. That search led to news reports with screenshots resembling the video. According to the review, those reports said the tourist used a translation app to communicate his order, which rendered “pomegranate juice” as “grenade” in Portuguese. The review presents this translation error as the source of the alarming misunderstanding. The reported police response was brief detention and handcuffing, not the thwarting of a bombing: the review says police released the man after realizing there were no weapons or threats. It adds that further news articles confirmed this account. The relevant context omitted by the viral post is that the word “grenade” arose from a mistranslated drink order, rather than from an actual weapon or threat.

المرصد الفلسطيني “تحقق”War & conflict

استشهاد الشاب جمال مشارقة إثر اصابته خلال الاشتباكات المندلعة في مدينة جنين.

Publisher’s rating: خاطئ، الشاب جمال مشارقة لم يستشهد ووصفت حالته ما بين المستقرة والخطيرة حتى اللحظة، وفق ما اكده لـ”تحقق” قسم العلاقات العامة والتواصل في مستشفى ابن سينا.

بيم ريبورتسWar & conflict

تصريح الناطق الرسمي باسم الجيش بأن الانصرافي هو السبب في سقوط المدرعات

Publisher’s rating: مفبرك

The claim concerned a framed image attributed to Al Jazeera Sudan that purported to quote Sudanese army spokesperson Nabil Abdullah saying that the political activist known as Al-Insirafi was responsible for the fall of the armored vehicles. The review reports that the image attributed to him a statement blaming Al-Insirafi’s defensive plan for the defeat. It concludes that the purported statement was fabricated. To check the claim, Beam Reports says its team searched Al Jazeera Sudan’s official Facebook page for a supporting statement or report, and separately checked the Sudanese Armed Forces’ page, which it describes as regularly publishing the spokesperson’s statements. The review says neither search found material confirming the claim. Its reported evidence is therefore the absence of corroboration on these two official pages; the excerpt does not describe independent confirmation from the spokesperson or an examination of the image’s provenance.

dpaWar & conflict

Dit is een recente voorpagina van Britse krant The Independent over het huidige conflict in Israël.

Publisher’s rating: De voorpagina dateert van 21 juli 2006 en heeft geen connectie met het huidige conflict tussen Israël en Hamas.

The claim presents a front page from the British newspaper The Independent as recent evidence about countries’ positions on a ceasefire in the current Israel–Hamas conflict. The review says the page is authentic, but that its age and subject have been misrepresented: it reports that the page “dateert van 21 juli 2006” and “gaat alleen niet over die oproep tot een staakt-het-vuren.” The review identifies the page’s historical setting by describing a United Nations vote in 2006 on a ceasefire resolution concerning the war in Lebanon. It says the Israeli army had entered southern Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked and abducted Israeli soldiers. The review reports that the United States and United Kingdom drew criticism at the time for aligning themselves with Israel. Thus, the page’s references to a ceasefire and countries’ positions do not make it evidence about the later Israel–Hamas conflict. The review contrasts that 2006 vote with a separate UN General Assembly vote in late October 2023 concerning the Middle East. It reports that 14 countries voted against the 2023 resolution, while 45 abstained, including the UK. The review says the front page’s date was established through a reverse image search; it does not claim that this check alone established the page’s broader historical context.