Does a photo on social media show an Emirati medical delegation arriving in Israel to provide psychological support for Israeli soldiers returning from Gaza? No, that's not true: The photo dates back to June 2021, predating the Hamas-Israel conflict that began on October 7, 2023. It captures a delegation from the Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco meeting with both Arab and Jewish members, as well as medics from the Magen David Adom relief organization in Israel.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @useri5q4mk6vep on February 2, 2024. It had a text overlay text (translated from Arabic to English by Lead Stories staff) that read:
Believe it or not: A team of Emirati mental health professionals has arrived in Israel to provide psychiatric support for Israeli soldiers returning from Gaza. Their aim is to assist these soldiers in coping with the psychological challenges stemming from the disruptions, panic, and nocturnal stress induced by their unsuccessful confrontations with the resilient Palestinian resistance fighters. Do some people still describe the UAE state using the term 'Arab'?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Feb 12 10:06:55 2024 UTC)
Following the Israeli Defense Forces' ground offensive (archived here) in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the claim was widely shared here, here and here.
Lead Stories conducted a reverse image search (archived here) using Google Lens on the photograph on February 12, 2024. The results led to a report (archived here) by Roya News, a Jordanian media outlet, dated June 20, 2021. The report (as translated) had the headline "Emirati volunteers in the ranks of the occupation's Magen David Adom - photos." It had several images, including the one circulating on TikTok.
Lead Stories also did a Google search (archived here) using the keywords "delegation," "Emirati," "Magen David Adom" and "Israel" in Arabic. The results unveiled a tweet (archived here) from X (formerly Twitter) published by @IsraelintheGulf (archived here) on June 18, 2021. The post features the photo circulating on TikTok, accompanied by an Arabic caption that reads (as translated):
A delegation from the Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Morocco met with Arab and Jewish members and medics from the Magen David Adom relief organization, and the discussion revolved around the importance of unity and working together to save human lives without discrimination, and about the Israeli partnership 🇮🇱🇲🇦🇧ðŸ‡ðŸ‡ªðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡¦ðŸ‡ª
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Feb 12 15:48:39 2024 UTC)
According to the Magen David Adom (MDA) organization, a delegation that visited the MDA station in Jerusalem on June 17, 2021, was composed of social media influencers from the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain (archived here).
A search on Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites (archived here) on February 12, 2024, covering the past 12 months, using the terms "Emirati Israel team psychiatric support soldiers when:1y," did not yield any results indicating that an Emirati psychiatric team arrived in Israel to provide medical support for the Israeli soldiers who have returned from the Gaza Strip.
