Unrelated images showing to point out individuals being arrested and escorted by police are circulating in Malaysia with false claims they present Dutch police detaining members of the Israel Protection Forces (IDF). The images beforehand circulated in stories and posts that made no point out of the people being Israeli troopers, and a spokesperson for the Dutch police instructed AFP that not one of the pictured officers are sporting the power’s official uniform.
“Dutch police arrested Israeli Main Basic Shaitan Shaul, commander of the armoured corps, this morning on costs of warfare crimes in Rafah,” reads the Malay-language caption of a Fb picture shared on August 14, 2025.
The picture exhibits a person in handcuffs being escorted by regulation enforcement officers.
The caption goes on to say he was arrested whereas on vacation at The Hague, including that Dutch authorities are on a marketing campaign to arrest IDF troopers after the “Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) issued a life sentence to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
Screenshot of the false put up taken on August 24, 2025 with a pink X added by AFP
The identical Fb account has additionally shared different images alongside claims they present Dutch authorities detaining Israeli navy officers.
Screenshots of the false Fb put up captured on September 1, 2025, with pink Xs added by AFP
Reverse picture searches, nonetheless, present the pictured people will not be linked to the Israeli navy.
The ICJ has additionally not issued any ruling on Netanyahu — although the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for him and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes towards humanity and warfare crimes in Israel’s warfare in Gaza, together with utilizing hunger as a technique of warfare (archived hyperlink).
The Hamas assault that sparked the warfare resulted within the deaths of 1,219 individuals, largely civilians, based on an AFP tally primarily based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at the least 63,459 Palestinians, most of them civilians, based on figures from the well being ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers dependable.
Unrelated images
The primary falsely shared picture was beforehand utilized in information stories by British newspapers The Telegraph and The Solar, which recognized the person as Johnny Morissey, a UK nationwide who was arrested in Spain in September 2022 for his function as a cartel enforcer (archived right here and right here).
Screenshot comparability of the false put up (left) and the picture from The Telegraph’s report in September 2022 (proper)
The second picture, exhibiting a policewoman handcuffing a girl who’s mendacity face down, was beforehand shared on June 1, 2025 by the consumer AshnaGopal on DeviantArt, a platform for digital artists (archived hyperlink).
The proprietor of the account instructed AFP the picture was taken in the UK. The one who took the picture had not posted it elsewhere however gave the DeviantArt consumer permission to share it on their account, they stated.
“That is truly a police coaching train, and the lady on the underside is definitely a scholar volunteer. You possibly can see they’re truly in a gymnasium with a foam flooring,” they stated on August 25.
Screenshot comparability of the false put up (left) and the picture posted on DeviantArt (proper)
The picture of a girl flanked by two males, one in a police uniform, was beforehand printed by The Each day Mail in an August 2016 article titled, “Collapsed on the street, urinating in doorways and being carted off by police: It is simply one other Financial institution Vacation evening on the Toon for Newcastle revellers” (archived hyperlink).
The picture’s caption additionally makes no reference to the lady being an Israeli soldier.
Screenshot comparability of the false put up (left) and the picture printed by The Each day Mail in 2016 (proper)
The picture of a girl overlaying her face whereas a policewoman seems to escort her, was utilized in a September 2019 article by German each day Rheinische Submit, which recognized the lady as an Instagram magnificence influencer who was charged with illegally injecting fillers into individuals’s lips and noses (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot comparability of the false put up (left) and the picture printed by Rheinische Submit in 2019
A spokesperson for the Dutch nationwide police, Lilian Scholten, instructed AFP that “no officers sporting a Dutch uniform may be seen” within the falsely shared images.
Policemen within the Netherlands historically put on darkish navy uniforms with vibrant yellow horizontal stripes throughout the chest and shoulders and are additionally geared up with utility belts and physique cameras or different gear (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot comparability of the false posts (left) and a photograph exhibiting Dutch police of their official uniform (proper)
Belgian authorities in Antwerp did briefly maintain and query two Israeli residents attending the Tomorrowland music pageant in July 2025 after they had been accused of warfare crimes by pro-Palestinian teams (archived hyperlink). Their names weren’t made public.
AFP has repeatedly debunked false and deceptive claims concerning the warfare in Gaza.
