Malala's Picture With Pakistan Cricketer Creates Stir, Latter Mistaken as Son of Israeli Defence Minister

Recently a photo of Nobel Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai had surfaced online that had gone viral on social media. The post was in Urdu and was captioned as “Malala Yousafzai having a good time with the son of Israeli Defence Minister. Who will lead the Pakistani nation in future.”

The photo was published on Facebook on July 19, 2020 and the post has been shared more than 20,000 times.

AFP

But in turn was that of Pakistani cricketer Faisal Iqbal, who happens to be Javed Miandad's nephew.

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AFP Fact Check also came forward and refuted the any such claims.

Earlier, Iqbal had published the photo on his verified Facebook page here on December 19, 2019. The post’s caption reads in part: ”Good to catch up a surprise Visit of Malala Fund at the US OPEN Cricket. A keen Cricket Follower, Enjoyed Discussing Cricket With her!”

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Iqbal then reposted the photo on his official Twitter account here on July 12, 2020, in a tweet wishing Yousafzai a happy birthday.

On July 22, 2020, Iqbal published a video on Twitter here addressing the false claims that the photo shows Yousafzai with an Israeli man.

“You can keep all your likes, dislikes, jealousy, hatred aside but nobody has to call anyone Jew, non-Muslim or non-Pakistan,” Iqbal says in the video.