Amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, a video is circulating on social media claiming to show an Israeli girl crying after losing her home.
See posts promoting this claim on Facebook: Here, here, here, and here.
See the same claim promoted on YouTube: Here.
See the claim circulated on Instagram: Here.
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation reveals that the viral video does not show an Israeli girl crying after losing her home. Instead, it captures an emotional moment of former Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini returning to her hometown after a decade.
While investigating the claim, the same video was found posted on an Instagram profile named Yusra Mardini on March 14. The caption of the video reads, “I’m home, but my home no longer stands. I want to share my thoughts with you, because this isn’t just my story—many Syrians right now are experiencing similar loss, pain, and trauma. This was the home where I grew up, dreamed of becoming a strong woman, and used to wash cars with my dad on the street. Yes, my home is now only rubble, but those memories will always give me strength to move forward. Alhamdulillah.”
Later, the same video was found on the YouTube channel of Middle East Eye, published on March 14. The video description states that Yusra Mardini, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and former Syrian swimmer, returned to her homeland after ten years to find her neighborhood in Darayya almost entirely destroyed including the building where she lived.
A report published by Al Arabiya, a Saudi-based media outlet, on March 28 notes that Olympic swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini fled war-torn Syria at the age of 17. Returning for the first time after a decade, she expressed her wish to contribute to the country’s reconstruction. At age 27, her life story was also depicted in the Netflix film The Swimmers, which shows how Yusra and her sister escaped from Damascus and swam across the Aegean Sea.
Conclusion
Therefore, the emotional video of former Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini returning to her homeland is being falsely circulated as a video of an Israeli girl crying, which is completely untrue.
Sources
- Yusra Mardini: Instagram Post
- Middle East Eye: Syrian Swimmer returns home after 10 years to find her house destroyed
- Al Arabiya: ‘I left as a child’: Yusra Mardini returns to Syria after a decade of fleeing war
