FACT CHECK: Does This Image Show Mark Zuckerberg Holding An ‘I Stand With Israel’ Sign?

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding a sign that says “I stand with ISRAEL.”

Verdict: False

The image has been digitally altered. In the original photo, the sign said, “Thanks!”

Fact Check:

Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas engaged in an armed conflict from May 10 until a ceasefire went into effect early May 21, BBC News reported. Amid the fighting, social media users shared a photo of the Facebook CEO that appeared to show him holding a sheet of paper saying, “I stand with ISRAEL.”

“Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook made a public stand today on Facebook,” reads text displayed above him in one iteration of the image shared May 17. (RELATED: Does This Image Show Egypt Projecting The Palestinian Flag Onto The Pyramids?)

In reality, the image has been digitally manipulated to show the words “I stand with ISRAEL.” TechCrunch included the original picture in a July 21, 2010 article about Zuckerberg announcing Facebook had reached 500 million users. In the unaltered photo, Zuckerberg’s sign simply read: “Thanks!”

The New York Times and CNN Money also reported on Zuckerberg saying in a July 21, 2010 post that the social media platform had hit 500 million members. An archived version of Zuckerberg’s announcement can be found on the Wayback Machine. The company put together a photo album “with our messages of thanks” to show appreciation, according to the archived 2010 blog post.

Zuckerberg does not appear to have publicly expressed support for either Israel or Palestinian forces during their conflict this month. Check Your Fact didn’t find a record of him doing so during the May 2021 conflict in media reports or in posts on his social media accounts.

False claims related to the May 2021 Israel-Hamas conflict have circulated widely on social media platforms, according to The New York Times. Check Your Fact recently debunked the viral claim that English broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough said, “I am not aware of any animal that is so cruel as the Israelis.”