Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become the subject of a widely debunked but ongoing claim that he is dead, a particularly high-profile example of the clouded and exceedingly fraught information environment created by the mix of AI and social media.
Social media users began to speculate about the Israeli leader’s well-being after footage of a recent televised address began circulating online last week, in which Netanyahu gave an update on the war in Iran.
Some viewers suggested the video was AI-generated, noting that at one point, Netanyahu’s hand appears to have six fingers, a common artifact of generative artificial intelligence output. Screen grabs of his hand became widespread on platforms like X.
Fact-checking website PolitiFact rated the six-finger claims false, writing that “a trick of light likely made part of his palm appear to be an extra finger.”
But unsubstantiated rumors of Netanyahu’s death continued to spread, with TikTokers and meme accounts analyzing subsequent posts from his account.
Netanyahu, 76, has made few pre-announced public appearances since the war broke out, with Iran having vowed to target him personally in retaliation for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Khamenei’s son and the new supreme leader of Iran, has also not been seen in public since the U.S. began its war on the country and has similarly been the subject of speculation about his health.
While there is nothing to suggest Netanyahu is currently unwell, his health has also loomed over Israeli politics before, with his emergency heart surgery to fit a pacemaker in 2023, as well as a prostate removal surgery in 2024.
Netanyahu first tried to shut down the rumors Sunday by posting a video of him grabbing coffee at a cafe in Jerusalem, joking in the clip: “I am dying for coffee.”
Despite the proof of life attempt, users continued to parse through each frame of that video for signs of possible AI manipulation.
The confusion around AI content comes as many social media platforms, which pay creators for engagement, have given users incentives to recycle old photos and videos to ramp up emotion around viral news moments. The amalgam of misinformation, experts have said, is creating a heightened erosion of trust online — especially when it mixes with authentic evidence.
Speculation about the health of world leaders has also become relatively common online, with some social media users last year theorizing that President Donald Trump was having medical issues due to some signs of physical issues observed in photos and videos and a brief stretch in which he was not seen in public. Trump rebuffed those rumors.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu posted a video with Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, again referencing the ongoing speculation.
In the video, Huckabee is seen walking with Netanyahu as he tells the prime minister that President Donald Trump asked him to “come and make sure you were OK.”
“Yes, I’m alive,” Netanyahu responded in the video. He emphasized that he and Trump “shake hands with five fingers in each hand,” before going on to praise his military operations and the U.S. government’s support.
Netanyahu then showed Huckabee a “punch card” depicting two names he has “erased,” plus more he plans to target — referring to Israel’s announcement that it killed the Islamic Republic’s top security official, Ali Larijani, and the head of its Basij force, Gholam Reza Soleimani. Iranian authorities later confirmed their deaths.
Huckabee later followed up with his own post, which included an image of him posing with the Israeli leader.
“He sure looked alive & was in great spirits,” Huckabee wrote. “News to the contrary? Phony as a Kosher pork chop.”
