Photo of 'rape is resistance' flyer predates pro-Palestinian camp at Columbia | Fact check
The claim: Image shows 'rape is resistance' flyer distributed at Columbia protest
An April 22 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a person holding a flyer that includes text set against the Palestinian flag.
"Rape is resistance," the flyer reads. "Free Palestine by any means necessary."
The post's caption claims the image shows a flyer "being passed around" at Columbia University by pro-Palestinian students.
A similar version of the post on Instagram was liked more than 3,000 times.
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Our rating: False
The photo of the flyer has been circulating on social media platforms since at least March 11, more than a month before students set up a protest camp at Columbia University. A university official said he was not aware of any such flyers being distributed.
Image of flyer predates Columbia encampment protest
Pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University in New York City set up a protest camp on campus on April 17, the same day the university's president, Minouche Shafik, answered questions from a House committee about antisemitism on campus. The student demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war sparked a wave of similar protests on college campuses across the country.
But the photo of the flyer in the Instagram post was not taken after students encamped at Columbia University. The photo has circulated on social media platforms dating back to at least March 11, more than a month earlier.
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USA TODAY could not determine the origin of the photo. Some social media users who shared the image in March said the flyer was found in New York City but made no mention of it being distributed by students on Columbia University's campus.
A university official, who declined to be named, also said he was not aware of any such leaflets being distributed.
The Instagram user who shared the photo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
blackandjewishunity, March 11, Instagram post
@OliLondonTV, March 11, X post
@JonathanHaroun1, March 11, X post
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, March 11, Facebook post
Columbia University official, April 25, Email exchange with USA TODAY
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flyer wrongly linked to Columbia protest over war in Gaza | Fact check