Hamas-Israel

Did singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran perform for wounded soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces to show support for Israel? No, that's not true: Sheeran denied this rumor in a now-deleted Instagram story. He stated a charity organization bought tickets to his "large scale public concert." Other reputable entertainment media outlets also posted about Sheeran's denial of the rumor. The implied claim…

Is a photo that shows Israeli soldiers in front of ruins in Gaza forming a Hanukkah menorah authentic? No, that's not true: This image is fake. The image creator told Lead Stories that he made it "using AI and some Photoshop edits afterward." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on December 25, 2024. A caption…

Did Major League Soccer or FIFA publicly announce that LGBTQ+ flags will be prohibited at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup? No, that's not true: The rumor originated from websites with satire labels. As of November 20, 2024, Lead Stories found no confirmation that either of the two sports organizations had issued such a statement. The claim appeared in a…

Does a video show actor Cillian Murphy waving a Palestinian flag on the street? No, that's not true: The person waving the flag in the video is Derek Brennan, who runs tours of locations of Murphy's Netflix show "Peaky Blinders" in Birmingham, England. The X account that posted the video later stated that the person in the video is Brennan,…

Does video of people chanting and clapping show Netherlands residents celebrating the attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam in early November 2024? No, that's not true: The video predates the violence by several months. It is of a different event and was shared on social media in May 2024. The claim was implied in a post (archived here) on…

Do two clips of the same adults carrying a wounded boy in Gaza prove that the scene was staged in different locations? No, that's not true: The clips on social media come from a single video that depicts the response to a single event in Gaza -- a blast near a medical facility. Lead Stories confirmed that the clips came…

Did the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees put a black band across its profile image on X to grieve the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar? No, that's not true: The band was on the image for months before Sinwar's death, according to archived pages of the account and to the agency. An agency spokesperson told…

Does a viral video show an Israeli tank destroyed "by the resistance's fire" in Lebanon in October 2024? No, that's not true: The claim recycled footage of a Russian tank in Ukraine that emerged on social media nearly a year before the start of Israel's September 30, 2024, ground operation in Lebanon. Ukrainian media initially posted the footage on October…

Does a picture going viral on social media show Israeli swimmers making the phrase "Bring them home now" with their bodies during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics? No, that's not true: The photo was taken in 2023 and posted to social media at that time. Also, it was taken at a pool in Israel, more than 2,600 miles from the…

Did protesters deface the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia or burn the U.S. flag on the Capitol grounds as a video on TikTok claimed? No, that's not true: Video and photo evidence show that they defaced a replica bell in Washington, D.C. While protesters did burn a U.S. flag in Washington, media coverage and a statement from Vice President Kamala Harris…