Netizens cry deepfake as Netanyahu posts videos to prove he is still alive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted a series of videos on social media in an apparent effort to dispel persistent rumours of his death — but each release has triggered a fresh wave of accusations that the footage is artificially generated.

The latest clip, posted to Netanyahu's official X account, shows him walking outdoors and interacting with civilians in Jerusalem. Within hours of publication, users online began pointing to what appeared to be a ring vanishing from his finger as he moved his arm.

"BREAKING: WHY DOES NETANYAHU'S RING DISAPPEAR AS HE MOVES HIS ARM... Is this also AI??" wrote one user on X.

The footage reignited debate about the authenticity of videos featuring the Israeli prime minister, as rumours about his death continue to circulate widely across social media.

Death rumours and the AI deepfake cycle

The rumours began spreading following the US-Israeli joint airstrike on Tehran on 28 February 2026 that reportedly killed Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's subsequent retaliation has since expanded the conflict across the Gulf region.

Questions about Netanyahu's safety emerged almost immediately after the strike. Each video his office released to counter the speculation attracted its own round of scrutiny, with users identifying what they claimed were visual anomalies indicative of artificial intelligence generation.

Netanyahu's office dismissed the death rumours as "fake news", telling reporters he was "fine."

Café video draws sustained scrutiny

One earlier video, posted to Netanyahu's Telegram account on Sunday, showed him drinking coffee at a café near Jerusalem. The clip was shared alongside confirmation from Reuters that the café had verified his visit, providing photographs and surveillance footage from the day.

Despite the confirmation, the video drew sustained criticism online. In the footage, Netanyahu appears to respond directly to speculation about his death by playing on the Hebrew word for "dead", which doubles as colloquial slang for enthusiasm.

"I'm crazy about coffee. You know what? I'm crazy about my people," he says in the clip.

He also spreads the fingers of both hands during the recording, visibly displaying five fingers on each — a gesture observers interpreted as a direct response to earlier claims that a separate video had shown him with six fingers.

During the recording, Netanyahu also spreads the fingers of both hands, visibly displaying five fingers on each.

Observers interpreted the gesture as a direct response to earlier claims that a separate video had shown him with six fingers on one hand.

Reuters later reported that the café where the video was filmed confirmed his visit, sharing photographs and surveillance footage recorded on the day.

Despite the confirmation, the video continued to draw scrutiny, with users pointing to what they described as visual irregularities suggesting the footage may have been artificially produced.

Background: death rumours and the six-finger claims

Speculation about Netanyahu's death began circulating on social media following the US-Israeli airstrike in Tehran on 28 February 2026 that reportedly killed Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The rumours were widely dismissed after Netanyahu continued to appear in photographs and videos published on his official social media accounts.

Claims also circulated that Netanyahu's brother, Iddo Netanyahu, and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had been killed in the same strike.

Those claims were later debunked.

Separately, a video shared by Netanyahu's office earlier drew scrutiny after some users claimed to have spotted six fingers on his right hand during a press conference broadcast.

The segment was shared widely online and viewed millions of times. The footage appeared to show an extra digit when Netanyahu raised his hand during the broadcast.

AI-generated images and videos are sometimes associated with irregular hand anatomy, as artificial intelligence systems can struggle to accurately reproduce fingers across frames.

However, a review of the original broadcast by Newsweek found that Netanyahu appeared to have five fingers in the longer footage.

Netanyahu's office dismissed the death rumours as "fake news", telling reporters he was "fine". 

Netizens question details in the coffee shop clip

Despite confirmation of the café visit, the video continued to attract scrutiny, with multiple users identifying visual elements they considered anomalous. 

Several focused on the coffee cup. A user identifying as kingheemie215 argued that the cup appeared unchanged despite Netanyahu appearing to take a sip. "Don't let the fingers distract you from the coffee," the user wrote. 

"Look at the sip. No instinctive reaction, no lip movement, no sip sound."

The same user also flagged what they described as distortion in Netanyahu's left hand, arguing that hand structures are often difficult for AI models to render consistently across video frames. "I'm 95% sure this is AI," the comment read.

A user identifying as iran.screenshot made a similar observation about the cup's contents. "He takes a huge sip of his coffee, and it stays 100% full," the comment said. 

User elce_authentic_labels echoed the observation: "They tried so hard to show five fingers, but they forgot the coffee never goes down." Others raised different concerns.

A user questioned whether the cup could realistically be held for the duration shown in the clip.

"Surely that coffee cup would have been too hot to hold for that length of time!" the user wrote.

User alifahk claimed a visible glitch could be seen between the 33rd and 35th seconds of the video. User Wai_Juwai said the perspective of shelves visible in the background appeared unusual.

"Take a closer look at the shelves in the background, the perspective is odd," the comment read.

User rehankausar615 pointed to decorative foam on the coffee, writing that it appeared unchanged after the sip. "Even after a large sip, the leaf remains," the user said. 

Pro-Iran accounts claim Netanyahu is dead

The debate was further complicated by the circulation of a separate video on social media that appeared to show Mojtaba Khamenei — son of the deceased supreme leader — at the same café as Netanyahu. Pro-Iran media accounts seized on the clip to advance the claim that Netanyahu is dead and that all recent footage of him is AI-generated.

The claims could not be independently verified.

Chatbot claim fuels speculation 

Debate intensified after Grok, a chatbot associated with the social media platform X, responded to users who asked it to analyse the footage. 

Grok described the clip as artificially generated. "This is AI-generated," the chatbot wrote in one response, and in a follow-up stated it was "100% sure" the video was a deepfake.

The chatbot also cited contextual grounds for its assessment, arguing that the setting depicted in the clip was inconsistent with discussions about sensitive security matters.

"It's an advanced AI deepfake," Grok wrote. "Netanyahu casually chatting about Iran/Lebanon covert operations in a public café while sipping coffee? No real thing like this exists or has been reported anywhere." 

Grok later acknowledged that additional context indicated Netanyahu had visited a real café location.

It said its earlier responses had been based on the characteristics of the viral clip circulating at the time.

The debate has continued to spread across social media platforms, with users analysing individual frames and discussing the possibility of deepfakes amid a period of heightened regional tensions.