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New Delhi: In the midst of the escalating tensions between Israel and Palestine, a wave of misinformation has flooded social media platforms, intensifying the confusion and fear already prevalent in the region. Alt News, a trusted fact-checking organization, has diligently examined five viral videos that have been circulating online, each purportedly depicting various aspects of the ongoing conflict. The comprehensive fact-check has provided clarity and dispelled the misleading narratives surrounding these videos.

Claim 1: Evacuation of Airports Near Gaza

One of the viral videos in question was shared by Ashlea Simon, chairperson of the Right-Wing British political party Britain First.

The video showed fighter jets being transported on trucks, accompanied by a claim that the Israeli Defense Forces were evacuating airports near Gaza due to an influx of terrorists. Alt News undertook a thorough reverse image search and found the same footage in a tweet dated September 15, well before the current conflict began on October 7. This evidence established that the video was unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Claim II: Paratroopers Landing in Israeli Territory

Another video shared by far-Right YouTuber Jackson Hinkle depicted paratroopers descending on a stately building, with the assertion that these were Palestinian fighters landing in Israeli territory.

Alt News investigation led to identify the building as the Egyptian Military Academy. By comparing the video frames with official imagery from the academy's website, Alt News confirmed the video's origin in Egypt, not Israel. 

Claim III: Alleged Kidnapped Jew from Gaza

A video featuring a man and a young girl, claimed to be a kidnapped Jew from Gaza, surfaced on social media, stirring outrage and fear.

The video bore a TikTok watermark belonging to user @izzeddin_masama. Despite the account's deletion, further analysis revealed that the video had been uploaded on September 9, a month before the conflict began on October 7. This information discredited the claim and proved that the video was unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Claim IV: Fireworks in Gaza After Israeli Air Strikes

Yet another video depicting fireworks illuminating the night sky over a city was misleadingly shared as a celebration in Gaza after Israeli air strikes on Hamas locations. The video bore a TikTok username (@ramiguerfi41) and was connected to the conflict. However, a investigation uncovered that the video was uploaded on September 28, days before the Hamas attack on Israel. The video was not connected to the ongoing conflict, thus refuting the claim made by those sharing it.

Alt News traced the video back to a tweet by former Palestinian authority spokesperson and political analyst Nour Odeh, dated May 13. This finding irrefutably proved that the video was old and not from the ongoing conflict, thus debunking the claim made by Ahmed and others.

 

Claim V: Building Destruction in Gaza

Journalist Sulaiman Ahmed, associated with The Round Table Show, shared a video showcasing a building being destroyed in an airstrike, linking it to the current conflict and reporting casualties.

Alt News traced the video back to a tweet by former Palestinian authority spokesperson and political analyst Nour Odeh, dated May 13. This finding irrefutably proved that the video was old and not from the ongoing conflict, thus debunking the claim made by Ahmed and others.

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New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.

Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.

At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.

Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.

According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.

The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.

At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it

The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.

Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.

According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.

Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.

Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.

Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.

He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.

DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.

Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”

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