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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video of himself getting a coffee on Sunday in an apparent attempt to prove that online rumours of his death have been greatly exaggerated.
The rumours stemmed from a video released by the Israeli government’s press office last Thursday, which some social media users said showed Netanyahu with six fingers on one hand — a sign of fake content — causing speculation over the prime minister’s health.
It’s another example of how disinformation in global politics can spread in the age of AI-generated images and videos.
In Sunday’s video, which was taken at a cafe in Jerusalem’s outskirts, Netanyahu can be seen getting a takeaway coffee and talking to an aide.
After taking the coffee from the cashier, he holds up one hand at a time to show they both have five fingers.
His aide then asks him about rumours that he was killed or injured. Netanyahu responds with a pun on the word “dead” — which in Hebrew slang can be used to describe “being crazy about” someone or something.
“I’m crazy about coffee. You know what? I’m crazy about my people,” Netanyahu tells the aide.
CBC News has independently verified the video’s location from online images of the cafe, and has confirmed it is authentic.
Rumours aired in Iran
The video of Netanyahu last Thursday, when he addressed the Israeli public via video link, was his first news conference since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
After the claims of his six-fingered hand began circulating, speculation grew that the Israeli prime minister was dead or injured. The rumours were ultimately aired by Iranian state media and spread online in Iran.
Multiple media outlets looked at the video of Netanyahu’s speech and found it is authentic.
Newsweek reviewed clearer footage of the speech and found it shows Netanyahu with five fingers on his left hand. Online fact-checker Snopes found users likely mistook his hands’ hypothenar eminence — a bulge at the base of a human pinky finger — for an extra digit.
Since the onset of the U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran last month, AI-generated images and videos have proliferated on the internet, often making it hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake.
In one example, a video claiming to show Iranian missiles striking Tel Aviv was viewed millions of times on X. Though the AI chatbot Grok told users it was real, CBC’s fact-checking team determined it was actually fake.
Can you tell this video is fake? The AI chatbot Grok could not. It’s been viewed millions of times on platforms like X and Instagram, with claims it shows Iranian missiles hitting Tel Aviv.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Iran of using artificial intelligence as a “disinformation weapon” to misrepresent its wartime successes and support, though he also accused Western media outlets — without evidence — of “close co-ordination” with Iran to spread AI-generated “fake news.”
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