Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Claims Video of Palestinian Teens Slain on Nakba Day Was Doctored

A senior Israeli military official said a video showing Israeli soldiers shooting at two unthreatening Palestinian teens was likely doctored.

“Since I have a lot of experience with forgery, I won’t say anything unequivocal until we conclude the investigation,” the anonymous Israel Defense Forces official told Haaretz about the video released this week of the fatal shootings. “We have asked to be given the additional bullets that were found, and we are willing to receive them now to conclude the inquiry. Since the video appeared, we will try to corroborate it against the battalion commander who was there.”

The disturbing video has gone viral worldwide, with 452,000 views on YouTube alone.

But Fahar Zaid, the Palestinian whose security cameras caught the incident at a May 15 Nakba Day rally in the West Bank, told Haaretz he saw Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinian teens.

“Israel can say what it wants, but I am the one who stood here and saw what happened,” Zaid said, according to Haaretz.

The results of the Israeli military’s investigation are due out Thursday.

The video appears to show that the teens — Muhammad Abu Thahr, 15, and Nadim Nuwara, 17 — were shot even though they were not threatening soldiers.

The United States and United Nations have called on the Israeli government to investigate.

On Nakba Day, also known as “the catastrophe,” Palestinians lament the displacement of their people following Israeli independence in 1948.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version