Fact-Check: AI-Generated Clip Viral as Al-Jazeera Confirming Netanyahu’s Death

Deepfake-O-Meter revealed that the viral clip was created using AI and was not a real clip, as claimed.

A video of an Al-Jazeera news report is being shared on social media with the claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has died.

In the clip, the anchor plays a clip, allegedly showing Netanyahu seated at a table with others, after which the ceiling suddenly collapses on them.

Those sharing the clip noted, "Al Jazeera News Agency shared CCTV footage of Netanyahu's death, showing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu meeting with military generals in a bunker—all of whom were killed in an Iranian missile attack."

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this viral clip has been created using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

What we found: At first, we divided the viral clip into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them. However, we did not find any credible sources to substantiate the claim.

• We also ran a keyword search and checked Al-Jazeera's website and social media handles to check whether such a video had been aired.

• However, we did not find any links to such a report by the news outlet.

• Team WebQoof closely examined the viral clip and noticed several irregularities.

• We observed several spelling errors in the ticker when the anchor appeared on screen. Additionally, the clip allegedly showing Netanyahu lacked clarity, with facial movements and body features appearing distorted.

• This led us to run video on AI-detection tool 'Deepfake-O-Meter,' which revealed that the viral clip was created using AI.

• We also looked up Israeli media reports to check whether there was any confirmation about Netanyahu's death. However, we did not find any reports corroborating the claim.

• Additionally, we found that Iran's Tasnim News Agency published an article that claimed there were speculations about Netanyahu's "possible death and injury," on 10 March.

• Following a press note by Netanyahu on 13 March, there were speculations about the video being AI-generated, however, they were dismissed by the Israeli media.

Conclusion: The viral clip falsely uses Al Jazeera’s name to claim that Netanyahu is dead, relying on an AI-generated video.

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