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The Persian-language newspaper, Ettelat published a story a few days ago claiming the Algerian parliament has ratified a bill to allow the president to use military action against Israel. This appears to be a false claim, with no reliable sources backing it up.

Attached to the article is a video showing pro-Palestinian protesters in various official buildings. The video has a watermark logo belonging to an Algerian news website.

I am skeptical that the protests shown are about the 2023 Israeli Hamas war - i.e. they may date earlier than that.

Is this video of recent protests in Algeria?

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    I note the accompanying photo of a parliament dates back to at least 2019, possibly earlier. Doesn't answer your question, but makes your skepticism of the claim seem more reasonable.
    – Oddthinking
    Nov 7 at 2:12
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    I looked at the surface level meta-data of the video just in case it was going to prove to be a super simple one to answer. Nothing about dates, copyright, etc. Dead end.
    – Oddthinking
    Nov 7 at 2:15
  • @Oddthinking Thank you for your constructive edit Nov 7 at 8:02
  • Aside: does anyone know who runs 'The Cradle'? It's a mysterious website with no 'about us', but which was returned on the 1st page of hits for me while I was searching for this. And they reproduce the Iranian fake news that Algeria 'entered the war' new.thecradle.co/articles/…
    – Fizz
    Nov 7 at 11:13
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    @Fizz That website seems so familiar to me. I think it was they who had falsely reported Queen Elizabeth II has caught COVID (months before she really caught the diaease). I recall IRIB covered that fake news too, citing the misinformer source. Nov 7 at 13:35

2 Answers 2

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There's news directly from Algeria Press Service on this session. It is accompanied by a wide angle photo that matches the footage from the Iranian source in a key detail.

APS photo first; note the lady with red scarf right above the large Palestinian flag:

enter image description here

Screenshot from the rather grainy Ettelat video has a rather similar looking red-scarf wearing person above that large flag.

enter image description here

So, if the footage is generic and from some prior event, it came like that from Algerian sources, although I don't see a lot reasons to assume it's shot at a different time.

Anyhow, the Google-translated text from APS places that on Oct 31:

On Tuesday, October 31, the National People’s Assembly held an extraordinary session following the dangerous developments resulting from the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, Mr. Ahmed Attaf, and the Minister of Relations with Parliament, Ms. Basma Azzwar.

The reason for the delay in the news/posting (till Nov 5) is that that APS piece is about the Palestinian thanks:

The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Algeria appreciated the special session held by the National People’s Assembly last week, in support of the Palestinian people [...]

OTOH I'm having trouble dating the Ettelat piece exactly because it's using some Iranian calendar; date seems to be "12 Aban 1402", which appears to be Nov 3, 2023.

There is earlier news from APS itself on the event, when it was held, on Oct 31, but that uses a different, close-up photo which isn't too useful for our purposes. OTOH the text that goes with that appears to say there was 'chanting' (which can kinda be seen in the Ettalat video--they were shouting slogans)

a stand was held in tribute to the martyrs of Gaza, and the deputies raised the flags of the State of Palestine and banners affirming the solidarity of the Algerian people with their Palestinian brother. They also chanted at length slogans in support of the Palestinian people and denouncing the Zionist aggression.

For reference, this session was programmed at the request of the heads of the parliamentary groups, which will witness a general discussion in addition to the intervention of the group heads, to culminate in the issuance of a final statement.

There's also news in French about it posted on Oct 31 that has a somewhat cropped version of the later APS shot.

enter image description here

This piece details more what was said, but obviously that was no declaration of war or even authorization to use force.

(Turkey-based, Yemeni-targeting) Almahriah TV has longer (5min) footage from the rather sedated speeches, but only a 1 second shot from the scene with the lady above the flag.

enter image description here

This clip also has some (actual) chanting, but which happened before the session opened, and outside the main auditorium.

AL24's coverage was even more sedated: just the speeches by parliamentary group heads, at least on YouTube. Not even a shot of the large Palestinian flag, although the smaller ones are visible. (There's an almost funny crop out of the picture of someone waving a Palestinian flag, at the end of AL24's coverage. The waving moment is captured in a centered frame by Almahriah, at least--for like 1 sec.) So apparently there was some effort in the more visible Algerian media to mute/downplay the chanty moment(s).

I'm a little supicious now that the Iranian newspaper clip may have been composited from several events, because it opens with a scene when someone holds a carboard map of Palestine's contrours (in the 'greater' version) but I haven't seen that bit in other TV coverage of this Oct 31 event. OTOH, it does look like there were some attempts at some selection/censorship of some details on in other venues, so... YMMV.

By the by, the exact clip shown by Ettelat apparently was first composited like that by the Arabic language 'MOSCOW NEWS', and also picked up (in English) by the Jordanian Albawaba. Both of these on Nov 2, so seemingly before Ettelat.

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Yes, the footage is probably real.

From looking around the internet, there was a special session of the Algerian lower house of Parliament on Nov 2nd about Palestine.

The twitter account of the Algerian parliament posted on Nov 5th a post translated (by Twitter) as:

The Embassy of Palestine thanks the National People’s Assembly for its extraordinary session to support the Palestinian cause

Attaching a document in Arabic dated from Nov 2nd which translates (by Google) as:

Statement issued by the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Algeria

The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Algeria expresses its deep gratitude to the National People's Council of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria and highly appreciates the convening of a special session of the National People's Council and the delivery by His Excellency Mr. Ibrahim Boughali, President of the National People's Council, of an important speech at the beginning of the session expressing support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in their fight for freedom And the independence and in the face of the extermination war that the Zionist occupation will launch against it is supported with a Western American protection umbrella.

Your honorable parliament was the race to hold this special session in support of the Palestinian people and right among the parliaments of the Arab and Islamic countries, and this position of the Algerian parliament only expresses the authentic and steadfast position of the Algerian people and their leaders throughout The years in support of the Palestinian cause

And we thank your excellencies and address through you our thanks and appreciation to the members of your honorable parliament And the heads of the committees and everyone who participated and organized this honorable meeting. And we will take this opportunity to express our appreciation to your Excellency and your honorable parliament

Picture of document in Arabic

So it's safe to say that a session of the Algerian parliament in support of Palestine did took place and there is no reason to believe that the videos from it are fake.

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  • The videos aren't fake for sure. I was skeptic about their date. However, thanks for your detailed answer. Nov 7 at 7:58
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    Iranian state-owned TV, newspapers, and news websites all intentionally spread fake news without a little research. They also spread a misinformation about Algeria regarding the Moroccan earthquake (which I asked about it earlier). And several other misinformation. Nov 7 at 8:01
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    @SnackExchange real in the sense that it's related to the parliament session on Palestine and that such a session took place. I can't however find a trusted source that confirms that a resolution to authorize the president to declare war was passed, that such a resolution has actual practical meaning and that such a resolution is even needed and that without it the president can't declare war. I did fond some anonymous comments that claim that it's all a puppet show and that the real power in Algeria lies with the army that doesn't care what the parliament does or doesn't do.
    – SIMEL
    Nov 7 at 17:05

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