Video Of Lawmakers Fighting In Georgia Shared As Israeli Parliament Brawl

A video showing a fight between lawmakers in a parliament is being shared with the false claim that it depicts Israeli parliamentarians fighting over Israel’s decision to participate in the war.

BOOM found that the video is not recent and shows a brawl between lawmakers in Georgia’s parliament over a controversial bill in 2024.

U.S. President Donald Trump on June 24 asked both Israel and Iran to enforce a ceasefire after an intense 11-day military conflict between the two countries. The conflict began after Israel, backed by the United States, launched an attack on Iran over alleged violations of prior warnings related to nuclear activities.

The Claim

Several social media users posted the video with a Hindi caption that translates to, "Open fight in Israeli parliament. Even Israeli MPs do not support the Zionist government and the BJP leaders of India are raising the slogan "Israel, you fight, we are with you". (Original Text in Hindi: इजरायली पार्लियामेंट में खुलकर लड़ाई। जयोनिष्ट सरकार को खुद इजरायल के सांसद समर्थन नहीं करते और भारत के भजपिल्ले "इजरायल तुम संघर्ष करो, हम तुम्हारे साथ है" का नारा लगा रहे है।)

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What We Found: Video From Georgian Parliament

1. Incident From April 2024: We extracted keyframes from the video and performed a reverse image search which led us to a post by international news agency Reuters dated April 16, 2024. The report states that the video shows lawmakers in Georgia engaged in a brawl in parliament, as members of the ruling party attempted to push forward a controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill. The proposed legislation had drawn criticism from Western nations and sparked domestic protests at that time.

2. Georgian Lawmaker Mamuka Mdinaradze Punched in the Face: According to an Associated Press report from April 15, 2024, political party Georgian Dream lawmaker Mamuka Mdinaradze was punched in the face by an opposition lawmaker while speaking at the podium. The incident escalated as several lawmakers from both sides joined the brawl. The clash occurred over a draft law proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which would require media outlets and non-commercial organisations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as being under foreign influence.

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