Image showing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on 'Israel Monthly' cover is altered | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Image shows Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the cover of 'Israel Monthly'

An April 29 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) appears to show Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the cover of a publication called "Israel Monthly" sitting in a wheelchair with a chrome Star of David on the wheel.

The image is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The post was liked more than 1,000 times in 11 days. The X post was reposted more than 200 times in that same time.

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Our rating: Altered

The image has been altered to change the name of the publication and add the Star of David to Abbott's wheelchair. The original image is from October 2013, when Abbott appeared on the cover of Texas Monthly in an unadorned wheelchair.

Image is altered 2013 Texas Monthly cover

Abbott, who was first elected governor of Texas in 2014, has been a staunch supporter of Israel. He traveled to Israel in November 2023, not long after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, and offered his state's "complete and total support to Israel in their fight against brutal terrorist organizations like Hamas," The Texas Tribune reported.

In late March, amid a wave of protests on college campuses over Israel's war in Gaza, Abbott issued an executive order that requires schools to discipline what he called “the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses.”

In response to an April 24 video of protesters being confronted by police at the University of Texas at Austin, Abbott said any students who participate in "hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled," the Austin American-Statesman reported.

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However, Abbott has never appeared on the cover of "Israel Monthly," and there is no evidence such a publication exists. The image in the Instagram post is an edited version of Abbott's portrait on the cover of Texas Monthly in October 2013, as Texas Monthly noted in an article debunking the altered image. It shows Abbott's wheelchair with a plain black wheel, not a chrome Star of David. Abbott has used a wheelchair since a tree fell on him during a jog in 1984, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Reuters also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Israel Monthly' cover of Greg Abbott is a fabrication | Fact check