No, Israel hasn't declared a holiday on Jan 22 to mark Ram temple consecration

By: Umme Kulsum
January 19 2024

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Screenshot of posts claiming that Israel has declared holiday on January 22, 2024 (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

What’s the claim?

Ahead of the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, the Indian government announced a half-day holiday on January 22 for central government officials on the occasion of the temple's consecration (pran prathishtha ceremony). Several states including Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, have also announced a holiday till 2.30 pm on that day as well.

Amid these developments, a narrative is viral on social media claiming that Israel has declared a holiday on January 22 to mark the Ram temple consecration. Several users took to X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook to share such claims. Archived versions of these posts can be viewed here, here, here and here.

Screenshots of claims made online. (Source: Facebook/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What did we find?

We combed through mainstream media reports but found no evidence of a nationwide holiday announced by Israel on January 22. There was no official announcement on the official website of the Embassy of Israel in India either, nor their official social media accounts. We checked the list of holidays issued by the Israeli embassy, and the only date mentioned as a holiday in India is January 26, 2024, for India’s Republic Day. 

We also contacted the Israeli embassy to check whether Israel has announced a nationwide holiday on January 22. Guy Nir, official spokesperson of the Israeli embassy, confirmed to Logically Facts that there is no holiday on January 22. He also redirected us to the official list of Israel's public holidays, which mentioned that the next holiday is scheduled for January 25. There is no holiday listed for January 22.

List of holidays for the Israeli embassy in India and the official list of holidays in Israel. (Source: Screenshot/embassies.gov.il/www.timeanddate.com)

Logically Facts had found that after the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, there was a surge in pro-Israel content posted by Indian social media users. We found that many Indian users updated their usernames on X (formerly Twitter) to add the Israel flag emoji in addition to the Indian flag emoji, and many shared hashtags in support of Israel. We also found that 20% of the hashtags in support of Israel emerged from India. Read our analysis here.

Similarly, this narrative about Israel declaring a holiday on January 22 has also been shared widely by Indian social media accounts, expressing support for Israel. However, the claim is baseless.

The verdict

Israel has not announced a holiday on January 22 to mark the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.