Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
A 500-year-old Torah scroll was discovered in the basement of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s palace after he fled the country earlier this month.
A Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, which is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker noticed that several users pointed out that the video was from 2017, showing a rare 15th-century Torah scroll made from bovine (ox) skin that was about to be smuggled out of Tunisia into Europe.
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to a clearer version uploaded by Tunisia-based Attessia TV on Facebook on March 13, 2017, stating that a treasured Torah manuscript dating back to more than 500 years had been found.
A corresponding search led us to this Times of Israel report, dated March 12, 2017, stating that Tunisian authorities announced over the weekend that they thwarted an attempt to smuggle a rare Torah scroll dated to the 15th century out of the country.
“The Torah scroll, which is said to be made of ox skin, was revealed to the public during a press conference by a spokesman from the Tunisian National Guard, Khalifa al-Shibani, who described it as a ‘one of a kind historical artifact’,” read the report, adding that the authorities had received information that the group was trying to transfer the rare Torah scroll to an unnamed European country. Similar reports can be seen here and here, confirming that the viral video does not show a rare Torah scroll that was seized from Bashar al-Assad’s home in Syria.
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Result: False
Source
Facebook video, Attessia TV, March 13, 2017
Times of Israel report, March 12, 2017
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
