By: Rajini KG
December 14 2023
Old image from South Korea shared as ‘American aid to Israel’
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Screenshot of the post shared online. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
This image shows 80 Blu-109 and Mark-84 bombs displayed at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea in 2014. It is unrelated to the Israel-Hamas war.
Claim ID ba5f02f4
Claim
An image of bombs lined up in racks is being shared on social media alongside claims that it shows military aid from the U.S. to Israel.
A user on Facebook shared the image with a caption, “What the F.....g heck, this is fast becoming an American war! Do the good peace-loving people of America not see this! Pelham @Resist_05 The third batch of American aid to the Palestinian children has arrived (sic).” An archive of the post can be found here.
Screenshot of the post shared online. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the claim is false. The image shows 80 Blu-109 and Mark-84 bombs set on display at a U.S. air base in South Korea.
What we found
A reverse image search on the image led us to Alamy, a stock image website, which stated that it was an image from the Kunsan Air Base in South Korea and was taken on October 23, 2014.
The description of the image read, “More than 80 Blu-109 and Mark-84 bombs sit on display at the Wolf Pack Munitions Storage Area, Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, following a successful emergency destruction of munitions simulation, Oct. 23, 2014. Wolf Pack Airmen completed hands-on emergency destruction of munitions training in conjunction with Exercise Beverly Midnight 15-1. Senior Airman Katrina Heikkinen.”
A screenshot from Alamy which highlights that the image was taken in 2014. (Source: Alamy/Modified by Logically Facts)
We also found the image on the website of Kunsan Air Base with the same details.
Screenshot of the bombs displayed at Kunsan Air Base. (Source: Kunsan Air Base/Screenshot)
A press release from Kunsan Air Base published on October 28, 2014, stated that Wolf Pack Airmen (an 8th Fighter Wing of Air Force) in conjunction with Exercise Beverly Midnight 15-1 completed their practical emergency destruction of weapons training on October 23, 2014.
During the training, Airmen practiced destroying buildings using electronic warfare (EDM), a tactic meant to keep opponents from obtaining vital weapons assets for use against the U.S. and its allies.
The verdict
A nine-year-old image from South Korea is being shared with the false claim that it shows a dispatch of bombs from the U.S. to Israel. The bombs were used in a destruction of weapons training exercise in 2014, and is unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.
