Amid unverified claims and reports of Benjamin Netanyahu being assassinated doing rounds on social media, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office reportedly dismissed the “fake news” and said that the PM is “fine”.
Several videos and posts on social media seemingly discussed speculations of Netanyahu’s death after a video posted by his X handle triggered a wave of online conspiracy theories.
However, the Israeli PM’s office told Turkish news agency, Anadolu Ajansı, that social media claims of “Netanyahu has been assassinated” are “fake news”. “The Prime Minister is fine,” the office stated.
Social media buzz on Netanyahu
Several social media users began speculating after Netanyahu posted a video on his X handle, claiming the Israeli PM appeared to have six fingers on one hand, interpreting the footage as AI-generated or manipulated.
X’s AI chatbot Grok was quick to address the rumours, saying that what appeared to be an extra finger was actually a visual illusion rather than a sign of manipulated video.
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Grok also dismissed rumours of Netanyahu’s death and said: “Netanyahu is alive; death rumors from Iranian media and social posts have been debunked by Snopes, Times of Israel, and others as unverified misinformation. Rely on official verified sources.”
There were also claims that the Israeli PM’s office posted an update on the rumours and then deleted it. However, Grok fact-checked these claims as well. It said that the Israeli PM did not delete any tweet, verifying that the screenshot doing the rounds is “fake”.
The AI chatbot further affirmed that the Israeli PM’s office did not issue any such statement on its X account, stating that the only recent post on that profile was of a National Security Council announcement.