Image shows class wearing headscarves in Jordan, not at Harvard | Fact check
Hannah HudnallThe claim: Image shows class at Harvard wearing headscarves
A Dec. 18 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a classroom full of men wearing keffiyehs, a type of checkered headscarf that the New York Times reports has become a "badge of Palestinian identity."
"This is not a university in Gaza, this is Harvard University in America!" reads text beneath the photo. "The love of Abu Obaydah is in the hearts of all the youth of the West, East, North and South."
The post garnered more than 4,000 likes in two days. Similar versions of the claim were shared on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.
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Our rating: False
The image was taken at a college in Jordan, not at Harvard.
Photo taken in Jordan, not America
Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, some groups of students have participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges such as Columbia University in New York and Howard University in Chicago. But the viral photo doesn't show such a demonstration at Harvard.
Jason Newton, a spokesperson for the university, told USA TODAY in an email that his team hasn't found any indication that the photo shows a Harvard classroom.
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The photo was shared on X on Dec. 14 by a user who said it showed a class taught by Dr. Muhannad Al Rawashdeh.
"The Department of Mechanics at Polytechnic University with its students in an automotive engineering lecture," reads an X translation of the post's Arabic caption. "A practical lecture on the dangers of riding the Merkava in Gaza."
The professor's profile can be found on the website of Al-Balqa Applied University in Jordan. His picture matches what can be seen of the professor's face in the X photo, and his research interests are listed as mechanical and automotive engineering, in line with the post's caption.
USA TODAY reached out to Al-Rawashdeh and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Jason Newton, Dec. 20, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Aboood_jordan, Dec. 14, X post
- Al-Balqa Applied University, accessed Dec. 20, Dr. Mohannad Othman Al Rawashdeh
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