Is a video that shows a man in Union Jack underwear throwing water over a Palestinian protester authentic? No, that's not true: The video appears to be AI generated using a still image of British MP Zarah Sultana that has been publicly available on the internet since 2021. There are tell-tale signs of AI in the video with glitches appearing that show it is not authentic.
The claim appeared in a September 28, 2025 video posted on the X.com account@ImtiazMadmood (archived here). It opened:
Not all heroes wear capes.
This is what the video looked like on X.com at the time of writing:
(Image source: X.com screenshot taken by Lead Stories.)
The 33-second video posted on X.com shows a man running up to a woman speaking next to a Palestinian flag, wearing a keffiyeh. He throws a bucket of water on her and then runs away. Fullfact.org debunked the claim that this video is authentic in July 2025 but it went viral again in September 2025.
The woman in the video is British MP Zarah Sultana and a photograph of her standing next to the Palestinian flag was published on her own X account @ZarahSultana (archived here) in 2021, as this screenshot shows:
(Image source: X.com account @zaharasultana screenshot taken by Lead Stories.)
A sign of AI generation is a glitch in the video, which appears as the man is running away and the Union Jack flag pattern blurs together as these screenshots from :09 and :10 show (red circles added by Lead Stories):
(Image source: X.com account @IamtiazMadmood screenshot taken by Lead Stories.)
(Image source: X.com account @IamtiazMadmood screenshot taken by Lead Stories.)
Had a man wearing underwear with a Union Jack flag pattern actually thrown water on a British politician next to a Palestinian flag it would have reported by multiple outlets. A Google search found no actual news reports that this happened.
Similarly, a search of the Yahoo! News index of partner news sites and news services (archived here) showed no legitimate news reports an MP in front of a Palestinian flag had a bucket of water thrown on her by a man in Union Jack underwear.
