Netanyahu’s “Proof of Life” Video Is Real. Here’s Why Some Claim Otherwise.
Iranian state media and other pro-Iran accounts claim that a video of the Israeli prime minister at a cafe is AI-generated — part of a baseless narrative that he was killed in an Iranian strike.
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In this Case, Believe Your Eyes: Video Showing Netanyahu Alive and Well Is Not an AI Fake
By Waqar Rizvi
What’s happening: We often report on misinformers and other hoaxsters using AI to fabricate false images and videos. Now, NewsGuard is monitoring the opposite, but no less insidious phenomenon: claims that a visual was created by AI when in fact, it’s authentic.
In the latest example, anti-Israel and pro-Iran social media accounts are falsely claiming that a video posted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s X page on March 15, 2026, is AI-generated. The claim is part of a baseless narrative that Netanyahu was killed or gravely injured in the ongoing conflict with Iran.
In fact, the video is authentic, a detailed NewsGuard analysis found.
Context: Since last week, Iranian state media and pro-Iran social media accounts have claimed that Netanyahu was killed or injured in an Iranian missile strike, Reality Check reported. The claims appear to be a propaganda effort to counter the confirmed deaths of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other high-level Iranian officials as a result of U.S.-Israel attacks.
A closer look: In an apparent response to the claims about his death, Netanyahu posted a video of himself at a Jerusalem cafe drinking coffee, with the caption, “They say I’m what? Watch.”
Soon after the video was posted, Iran-affiliated outlets and other pro-Iran accounts began claiming that the video was an AI-generated deepfake, citing supposed anomalies in Netanyahu’s face, the level of the coffee in the cup, the lighting and shadows, and a perceived distortion in Netanyahu’s coat pocket. Some posts shared screenshots from an AI-detection tool as purported evidence.
Tasnim News Agency, believed to be controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, published an article on March 16 titled “New Video of Netanyahu Proves Fake” that stated: “While the most recent video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to dispel rumors about his death or injury, it proved to be AI-generated.”
Pro-MAGA X user @MattWallace888 posted a slowed-down clip from the video with a caption questioning whether “a highly advanced AI system” had been used to create the video. The user pointed to what he described as a “glitch” in Netanyahu’s coat pocket, “the physics of the coffee,” and other details. The post garnered 1.6 million views and 5,500 likes in one day.
Pro-Iran X account @SprinterPress posted the video alongside a screenshot from AI detection tool Hive, which rated it “96.9% AI-Generated.” The user stated, “An app for detecting artificial intelligence showed that the video of Benjamin Netanyahu was 96.9% created with AI and is not real.” The post received 1.2 million views and 18,000 likes in one day.
Actually: It is true that Hive determined that the video was AI-generated. However, other AI detection tools and comparisons of the video to other images and videos taken at the cafe confirm that it is authentic. Hive did not respond to two emailed requests for comment.
Reuters reported that it verified the video’s location and date using file imagery of the cafe and by comparing the video to other online videos and images of Netanyahu’s visit.
The Sataf, the Jerusalem cafe visited by Netanyahu on March 15, posted photos of Netanyahu on its Facebook page that day, showing him drinking coffee in the same outfit seen in the video he posted. The cafe also addressed the claim directly on Instagram, stating: “Our response to the madness on the internet. The Prime Minister came to us at Sataf and we received him with love and excitement.”
Emmanuelle Saliba, chief investigative officer at AI-detection firm GetReal Security, told NewsGuard: “We performed a multimodal analysis of the audio and video, and facial and vocal biometrics. The GetReal platform did not detect any signs of synthetic content or manipulation in the audio or video.” A multimodel analysis aggregates results from several detection models.
Zooming out: Since the U.S and Israel launched its attack on Iran on Feb. 28, NewsGuard has identified other viral instances of social media users claiming that authentic war-related visuals are AI-generated.
Pro-Iran accounts last week falsely claimed that a video of Netanyahu speaking at a press conference on March 12 was AI-generated. It was real. And a few days earlier, anti-regime social media users falsely claimed that The New York Times published an AI-generated image of a large crowd celebrating the naming of the new Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran on March 9. In fact, the photo was authentic.
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In Case You Missed It … How to Use NewsGuard’s Browser Extension to Decide Which News Sources to Trust and Which Ones to Avoid
Millions of news articles are shared online every day, and it can often be difficult to assess the credibility of their sources. But NewsGuard has a solution. In this NewsGuard Academy video, we explain how to download and use NewsGuard’s browser extension, which places credibility ratings next to news links that appear in your search results and on your social media feeds. You’ll learn what the ratings mean, how to read a NewsGuard “Nutrition Label” to understand why a site received its rating, and how to use this tool to make smarter decisions about what to read, trust, and share.
Watch the video here.
This newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
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