Fact Check: Viral Video Claiming US Pilots Refused to Fly Arms to Israel Is Misleading
The Israel – Hamas conflict which started in October 2023 is still ongoing. Israel has intensified the ground invasion
US veterans arrested
The Israel–Hamas conflict, which started in October 2023, is still ongoing. Israel has intensified the ground invasion, looking for the Hamas militants and also aerial bombardment of Gaza city. Many believe that the conflict is continuing because of the Western support for Israel.
Meanwhile, a video showing two former US armed forces officials in uniform being dragged out and arrested by police is going viral on social media platforms with the claim that they are American Air Force pilots who refused to fly airplanes filled with arms and ammunition to Israel. In the video, we can hear them shout ‘Genocide.. You are complicit in Genocide'.
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact check:
The claim is Misleading. The people seen in the video are not pilots refusing to fly weapons to Israel. They are Army veterans who were escorted out of a Senate hearing.
When we extracted keyframes from the viral video and searched using reverse image search, we found few posts on X, stating that the Former US Army service members Anthony Aguilar and Josephine Guilbeau were arrested after interrupting a US Senate foreign affairs hearing. The veterans denounced the US government, Senate, and Congress for their role in supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. While Aguilar, a retired Green Beret and former contractor with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), specifically condemned the organization for firing on Palestinian civilians attempting to access aid.
According to Aljazeera English, the video shows US Army veterans Anthony Aguilar and Josephine Guilbeau, interrupting a Senate hearing denouncing US support for Israel’s war on Gaza. Both were arrested but later released.
Democracy now shared the same video on its Instagram with the caption “Two U.S. military veterans were removed from a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday after they accused lawmakers of complicity in genocide in Gaza. Former Army intelligence officer Josephine Guilbeau was led away in handcuffs, alongside retired Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Aguilar. He worked as a security contractor for the militarized U.S.- and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation before blowing the whistle on the organization’s deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians seeking food. "Every American sitting at home right now needs to realize that you are paying for a genocide," Aguilar said.”
Therefore, the viral video shows former US Army officials being arrested for disturbing the senate hearing and accusing the lawmakers of complicity in genocide in Gaza. The claim that they are US pilots refusing to fly weapons to Israel is Misleading.