Video of US Soldiers discarding medals NOT linked to recent Israel-Hamas conflict

A video has circulated on social media, claiming to show U.S. military veterans purportedly returning their service medals in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

The accompanying post asserts that over 40,000 US soldiers resigned due to civilian casualties in Gaza. In the video, a group of men in military uniform address a large crowd, expressing solidarity with war-affected nations, including Palestine, Iran, and Afghanistan.

The text along with the video reads, "Seeing innocent people die in Gaza, over 40,000 US soldiers have left their army positions. Most had fought in countries like Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Libya, with many returning their medals. NATO should be ashamed." An archived version of one such post can be seen here.

#Gaza में मासूमों को मरता देख कर
40,000 US FORS के जवानों ने आर्मी की नोकरी छोड़ी,
इनमे से ज्यादातर वो जवान थे जिन्होने #Iraq #Syria #Palestine #Libya जैसे देशों में जंग लड़ी है और बड़े मेडल भी प्राप्त किए हैं उन्हें लौटा दिया !!#NATO के लिए शर्म की बात है pic.twitter.com/6M8MjzAugZ

— Noyan_bey_ 🦅 (@noyan_beey) November 2, 2023

India Today Fact Check found that the video of veterans discarding medals is over a decade old and unrelated to the recent Israel-Hamas conflict. Furthermore, there is no credible report about 40,000 American soldiers resigning in support of Gaza.

Our Probe

A reverse image search of the viral video's keyframes led us to a longer version of the same clip, uploaded on May 21, 2012, to a YouTube channel called “Democracy Now!” The video's title was "No NATO, No War: US Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit."

According to this channel, the video shows an anti-war protest organised by US veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, alongside members of Afghans For Peace. The event took place on May 20, 2012, near a venue where leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were convening for a summit with a specific focus on Afghanistan.