Old video from Iraq shared as 'Israeli soldiers firing at mosque in Gaza'

The Verdict [False]
A video falsely presented as showing Israeli forces firing at a Gaza mosque actually depicts U.S. Marines firing at a mosque in Iraq in 2008

What is the claim?

A video showing gunshots and smoke emanating from a minaret is being shared with the claim that it depicts Israeli soldiers firing at a mosque in Gaza during prayer. Social media users shared the video with captions such as, “Israeli soldiers fired on a mosque minaret in Gaza while the Adhan (call to prayer) was being recited (translated from Arabic).” Archived versions of such posts are accessible here, here, here, and here.

*Screenshot of the viral claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)*

However, we found that the video actually shows U.S. Marines firing at a mosque in Iraq.

What are the facts?

A reverse image search revealed the video was posted on American filmmaker Michael Moore’s YouTube channel on March 16, 2008. The video (archived here), was captioned, “WINTER SOLDIER: U.S. Marines Fire on Mosques Unprovoked.”

The description read, “Cpl. Jon M. Turner’s (3/8 Kilo Company, 1st Platoon, U.S. Marine Corps) testimony on March 15, 2008, included these two videos of Turner’s squad firing on Mosques unprovoked, a violation of international law.”

A September 2011 YouTube video (archived here) features former U.S. Marine Jon Turner discussing his time in Iraq. Beginning around the 14:20 mark, Turner describes an incident involving a minaret, stating, “One of the guys in the weapons company had gotten shot, and this is the way we would take out our aggression.” The viral video appears on a projector screen at 14:28.

Turner adds, “For those of you who don’t know, it is illegal to shoot into a mosque unless you were taking fire from it. There was no fire that was taken from that mosque. It was shot into because we were angry.”

The video includes the logo of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), an advocacy group. The incident was also covered in a March 24, 2008, report by the Turkish internet platform Mynet.

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