Israel

Did President Donald Trump actually post on Truth Social attacking media personality JD Delay? No, that's not true: A screenshot claiming that Trump called out Delay is fake. No such post exists on Trump's Truth Social profile, and Trump has not mentioned Delay on other social media profiles. The claim appeared in a post by the Delay's account @JdDelay5150, on…

Do real photos show an Israel Defense Forces soldier repairing and revering the same crucifixion statue he vandalized? No, that's not true: Two images -- one showing a soldier washing the statue and another showing a soldier kneeling at the base of the cross -- are AI-generated. The photos were identified by Google Gemini as having a SynthID watermark. The…

Did President Donald Trump say Israel is "a far more important ally than the American people"? No, that is not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. While Trump did praise Israel as "a GREAT Ally of the United States of America" in…

Did Pope Leo XIV say, "Iran can have a nuclear weapon," as President Donald Trump suggested on the White House lawn in April 2026? No, that's not true: The pope has repeatedly argued against war and denounced nuclear weapons. In March 2026, he posted on X, "Let us #PrayTogether that nations move toward effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, and that…

Did CNN rely on an unnamed "fake news site from Nigeria" to report on Iran's ceasefire statements on April 7, 2026, as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence that CNN relied on a Nigerian website. The initial CNN report said that the statement attributed directly to the Supreme National Security Council was…

Does a real video show two crewmembers parachuting to the ground after ejecting from a damaged U.S. F-15 fighter jet over Iran? No, that's not true: A content detection tool determined with 99.9 percent confidence that the video was AI generated. While an F-15 was shot down over Iran on April 3, 2026, only one of the two crewmembers had…

Does a video show burning tower buildings in Tel Aviv following Iranian strikes in April 2026? No, that's not true: The video shows a deadly fire in Hong Kong in November 2025. The footage is not related to the Middle East conflict. The claim appeared in an April 1, 2026, post on X account @drhossamsamy65 (archived here). It opened: 🔴…

Does a court filing definitively state that the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk does not match the rifle allegedly used by Tyler Robinson? No, that's not true: In court documents, defense lawyers said a summary report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicates the agency was unable to match up the bullet recovered from Kirk. The defense…

Did Israeli Channel 13 and Al Jazeera confirm that Hezbollah partially or wholly captured Kiryat Shmona? No, that's not true: There's no reliable evidence to support that claim. Neither news organization reported that Hezbollah fighters had taken Israel's northernmost city, located near its border with Lebanon, although the community has been largely evacuated due to ongoing cross-border attacks. The claim…

Does a video of a burning ship actually show an oil tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz on March 27, 2026? No, that's not true: No credible news organizations reported an oil tanker being hit in the Strait of Hormuz on that day. The video showed signs of AI generation. The claim appeared in a post (archived here, here…