A video of a traditional Balinese tantric meditation ritual is circulating on social media with the false claim that it shows deceased Palestinians who became victims of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The video is accompanied by the caption, "These are bodies of Palestinian Muslims, but if you feel, you will see the bodies of the entire Ummah." India TV Fact Check team conducted a reverse image search on the video and found that it was originally uploaded to YouTube on October 31, 2022, by an Indonesian channel. The video description states that it shows a Calonarang performance, which is a traditional Balinese dance-drama that tells the story of a powerful witch named Calonarang.
During a Calonarang performance, some participants play the role of "watangan" or corpses, who represent victims of Calonarang's black magic. The watangan are typically shrouded in white cloth and lie on the ground motionless.
The video circulating on social media shows a group of watangan lying on the ground during a Calonarang performance. The video is accompanied by a false caption that claims that the watangan are dead Palestinians.
It is important to note that the video is not from the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and does not show dead Palestinians. The video is of a traditional Balinese ritual that has been falsely misrepresented as footage of a war zone.
We urge social media users to be critical of the information they see online and to verify the authenticity of videos before sharing them.
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