Viral video of Kuwaiti NA speaker rejecting ‘deal of the century’ is from Feb 2020

The iVerify reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan conducted a keyword search to corroborate the alleged development.

Posts from users across social media platforms since April 20, 2025, shared a video of the speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly throwing away a set of documents and claimed that he “ended relations with Israel”. However, the video and incident are from February 2020 when he rejected the 2020 Trump Israel–Palestine plan.

Kuwait is a vocal advocate of Palestinian rights as it has consistently called for action against Israel’s systematic violations and ongoing disregard for the United Nations Charter, international humanitarian law and human rights. In March 2025, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry also decried the Israeli government’s decision to legalise 13 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

HOW IT STARTED

The iVerify Pakistan team was alerted on April 21 about an X post and requested authentication for the content.

On April 20, a user on X shared a video of Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim addressing a conference while holding a set of papers in his hand.

The English transcript on the video showed him saying, “To summarise, I would like to say on behalf of all Arab and Muslim nations and all honourable and free people the deserved and right place of these sheets and documents, the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’, is the garbage of history. Peace be upon you.” He ends his speech by throwing the document away and the hall erupts with applause.

In the caption, the user said, “Kuwait ends relations with Israel, throwing the deal of the century in the trash.”

The post received 77,800 views and was shared 2,100 times.

The video was also posted by another X user and was shared several times on Facebook here, here, here, here and here, garnering around 275,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, to satisfy the public’s request seeking authentication for the claim and keen interest in developments related to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

A keyword search for “Kuwait rejects deal of the century” yielded a Facebook post of Turkish news outlet Andalou Agency, dated February 10, 2020, which showed the complete version of Al-Ghanim’s speech denouncing the proposal of the United States for a solution to the Israel-Palestine dispute.

The search also yielded a February 10, 2020, article by Middle East Monitor, titled “Speaker of Kuwaiti Parliament throws ‘Deal of the Century’ in the bin”.

The report detailed the components of the speech Al-Ghanim made during the emergency conference of the Arab Parliamentary Union, where he rejected “the idea of an unfair settlement of the Palestinian cause and stressed over the principle of a two-state solution”.

His remarks came a month after then-US president Donald Trump announced the “Deal of the Century” in January 2020. According to the publication, this plan included the establishment of a Palestinian state in the form of an “archipelago” connected by bridges and tunnels. Moreover, he suggested that the capital be in parts of East Jerusalem, while making occupied Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a viral video shows the Kuwaiti National Assembly speaker ending relations with Israel and throwing the ‘Deal of the Century’ in the trash is misleading.

The video of old from February 2020, when the official rejected the US plan for Israel and Palestine, and is thus unrelated to the current Israel-Gaza conflict. Furthermore, Kuwait does not have any diplomatic relations with Israel in the first place.