Fact Check: Palestine Supporters In Kerala Used Italy Flag Instead Of Palestine (image- twitter/tejinderbagga)

As Israel continues with its bombardment on civilians in Gaza, people from all around the world are gathering in solidarity meetings and rallies in support of Palestine. A video of a rally in Kerala held in support of Palestine has gone viral in social media captioned ‘Palestine supporters use Italy flag instead of Palestine.’

The protest was conducted by Kerala wing of Welfare Party in Kerala on Friday, 20 October in Palakkad. When the photos and videos appeared on social media, some Indian right wing handles and pro-Israeli influencers mocked the group for using the wrong flag in the rally.

Hamas terrorists supporters gathered in Kerala, instead of carrying Palestine flag 🇵🇸 they carried Italy Flag 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/jgBVI5M2Ty

— Tejinder Pall Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) October 21, 2023

But, in fact, purposefully or not, Italy flag was mistaken for the flag of Welfare Party. Both Italy and Welfare party has same colour flags  and they look similar as both have red, green and white.

The protesters were seen marching with the Welfare Party flag and a large banner saying ‘Free Palestine’.

Many X users have posted the video mocking the members of the party. But the users are the one who were mistaken.

The party flag and Italy flag are not identical. In the Italian flag, all three panel are blank, while in the party flag, its has olive leaves symbol and the word ” Welfare Party”  is written in black engraved on the white region.

If the video observed clearly, the words could be seen on the flag. While the yellow leaves symbol is not clearly visible against the white background. One post by the pro-Israel handle @Imamofpeace, which garnered 2.2 million views have now been deleted.

In the video posted in better resolution; the symbols are much clearer.