Did the Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo wave a Palestinian flag to express solidarity with the Palestinians following an October 2023 football match? No, that's not true: The player shown in the video is Moroccan footballer Jaway el-Yamiq, who waved the Palestinian flag following Morocco's victory over Canada during the group stage of the 2022 World Cup. It was posted on various social media platforms on December 1, 2022, a full 10 months before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in Israeli retaliatory attacks on Gaza.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on TikTok on October 14, 2023, with a caption reading:
Ronaldo raises the Palestinian flag
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sun Oct 15 13:57:11 2023 UTC)
Using Google Lens, Lead Stories confirmed the video shows Jawad el-Yamiq, a center-back for Morocco, waving the Palestinian flag on the field as Morocco secured a 2-1 victory over Canada at the World Cup 2022.
The original six-second video clip showed el-Yamiq waving the flag at the end of the match on the football field in Qatar. The Associated Press, Reuters, and The Guardian, among numerous other international news outlets, reported on the match following Morocco's string of victories.
Ronaldo, a renowned football icon, currently serves as a forward and is captain of both the Saudi Pro League's Al Nassr Club and the Portugal national football team.
