The video is of a 2017 opening speech by the Emir at the 17th Doha Forum on Development, Stability and Refugee Issues.
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This Facebook post with a video purportedly of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Palestine is FALSE.
The post reads, “BREAKING: Qatar is threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Palestine. “If the bombing of Gaza doesn’t stop, we will stop gas supply of the world.”
Since armed conflict erupted between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel on 7 October 2023, Qatar has been playing a mediation role in efforts to de-escalate the conflict and ensure the release of hostages.
There is no evidence from a reliable source of the alleged threats by Tamim to cut off gas supplies as alleged in the claim.
A reverse image search of a screenshot from the video in question on Microsoft Bing established that the video is part of a 2017 opening speech by the Qatar leader during the 17th Doha Forum on Development, Stability and Refugee Issues.
A longer version of the address was published by Aljazeera Mubasher on 14 May 2017, with a title in Arabic translating to, “Emir of Qatar: The Palestinian issue is the issue of a people uprooted from their land and displaced from their homeland.”
In the official English transcript of the address published on the Permanent Committee for Organising Conferences website, an affiliate with the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Emir addressed several issues, including the Palestinian and Iraqi refugees. There was no mention of gas supply.
He said in part, “This is why it is true to say that the Palestine issue started as a cause of people who have been uprooted from their land; other cases are relatively recent, such as the situation of displaced Iraqis fleeing the siege and war, while some of them were displaced on sectarian cleansing background.”
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with a video purportedly of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Palestine and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Peris Gachahi and edited by PesaCheck Senior Copy Editor Cédrick Irakoze.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
