Is Benjamin Netanyahu Dead? Fake News Becomes the Loudest Voice on Social Media
False claims of Netanyahu’s death and Tel Aviv’s destruction highlight just how social media has blurred the lines between fact and fiction ● WATCH
In the past few days, two extraordinary claims have flooded social media: that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dead and that Tel Aviv lies in ruins. Neither is true, yet both have spread widely online, a symptom of the growing crisis of misinformation in wartime.
The Netanyahu “Death” Hoax
The rumor of Netanyahu’s death occurs every round of Israeli fighting, this time originating with Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, a media outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It claimed the prime minister was killed in a missile strike last week, a story then amplified across social media.
There is no evidence for this. An image allegedly showing Netanyahu being pulled from rubble was an AI fabrication. The Prime Minister has been publicly visible multiple times this month, including visits to Beit Shemesh and Be’er Sheva, and even appeared in a televised press conference last Thursday.
That appearance itself sparked another wave of conspiracies. Some claimed, with shoddy photographic evidence, that Netanyahu had six fingers, implying the video was AI-generated. Netanyahu released a video on his social media of him at a coffee shop, showing he’s alive, well, and anatomically normal.
AI Bombings and the “Rubble of Tel Aviv”
Meanwhile, AI-generated videos claiming Tel Aviv has been “flattened” have become one of the war’s most virulent falsehoods. Some clips purport to show large-scale destruction hidden by Israeli media censorship. On the ground, though, the truth is very different.
Only one building in the city was destroyed, and several others were damaged in missile strikes. In fact, local and international media reported the event within hours, showing that it is not down to media censorship. Yet online, the fabricated footage continues to thrive, shared by prominent figures like former British MP, star of Iranian and Russian state TV, and the man who somehow makes fedoras look less cool, George Galloway.
He declared that “Tel Aviv now looks like Gaza,” claiming his friends who live, quote, “on Sheinkin Street…near Dizengoff Square” told him this. This is despite the fact that Sheinkin Street is a 15 minute walk away from Dizengoff Square, both areas with cafes and shops still open (whether George Galloway, a man who refused to debate a pre-government spokesperson era Eylon Levy because he is Israeli, has friends in central Tel Aviv is very much up for debate).
Watch the full report here:
Why Lies Travel Faster
Because social media is a mass content-providing machine, it doesn’t matter if you are right; you just have to be loud enough to be seen. In fact, being wrong makes you louder.
On X (formerly Twitter), for example, posts accumulate “weight” on the algorithm based on user interaction: half a point for a like, 13.5 for a reply, and 75 if the author responds. In this incentive system, even debunking a falsehood helps amplify it. The more points you get on a post, the further it spreads.
X monetizes posts with engagement. So grifters looking to make a quick buck will want the most sensationalized content out there, regardless of its legitimacy. Nefarious state actors will pounce on the opportunity to shape public discourse in their favor, as they have done for years. And that leaves the user — overwhelmed by content, not bothering to fact-check, and instead, suspending their disbelief by believing these online falsehoods.
Spotting the Real from the Fake
As AI-generated content improves, spotting deception requires sharper instincts. Visual irregularities, like cars warping shape or impossible lighting, often reveal synthetic videos. For factual claims, credibility still comes from rigorous verification.
Mainstream outlets such as CNN, Fox, or i24NEWS rely on layers of fact-checking before publishing. Social platforms, by contrast, reward whoever posts first. In that race, truth is easily outpaced by virality.
So if you want the truth, pay more attention to legitimate, verified sources, not just useful idiots with fedoras.