Politics

Is an image of cheering Atlético Madrid soccer team fans with a giant Palestinian flag authentic? No, that's not true: A representative for the sports team was quoted as saying that this image was not authentic. An AI image detector site rated the image 99.9 percent likely to be AI generated. Lead Stories could not find an article from a…

Did the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg post a photo of herself holding a placard that reads "6 Million wasn't enough"? No, that's not true: She never posted the photo in question. Thunberg did express her pro-Palestinian stand on social media but used different words, and condemned antisemitism in subsequent tweets. The authentic photo showed her holding a sign saying,…

Does a video circulating on social media show pro-Gaza protesters in India waving the Italian flag? No, that's not true: The flag carried by protesters shown in the video is the Welfare Party Of India flag, not the Italian flag, nor Palestinian flag. The signage of the long vertical banner the protesters are carrying identifies the group as the Welfare…

Did President Joe Biden announce the reintroduction of the draft? No, that's not true: A video showing such a purported announcement was created using artificial intelligence. An online outlet created this video using AI, describing the clip as "AI imagines what would happen if Biden declares and activates the Selective Service Act ..." If such an announcement had actually been…

Does a video show helicopters from "Arab countries" flying toward Gaza in formation with their flags? No, that's not true: This video was filmed on October 4, 2023, in Veracruz, Mexico, and features an air show that was staged as part of the 202-year anniversary of the founding of the Mexican Navy. It has nothing to do with the Hamas-Israel…

Does a photo on social media show President Joe Biden sunbathing on a beach during the Hamas-Israel conflict and House speaker crisis in October 2023? No, that's not true: The picture shows the president and first lady Jill Biden at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on August 2, 2023. While the first couple did spend the weekend of October 20, 2023 in…

Did vaccines kill millions during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918? No, that's not true: According to medical research and medical experts, the pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide, was caused by an influenza A (H1N1) virus. A social media post offered no evidence to support its claim, which is contradicted by the body of medical research…

Does a video show individuals setting the Israeli embassy in Bahrain on fire on October 19, 2023? No, that's not true: This video was filmed in 2012. It shows protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at a police station on the Bahraini island of Sitra as part of street violence associated with pro-democracy protests. The claim appeared in a post with an…

Does a video shared on social media show an Israeli police raid on a synagogue to arrest a Jewish youth who supports Palestinian rights in the days following the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023? No, that's not true: The same video was shared on YouTube about 22 months earlier. The clip has nothing to do with the 2023…

Did Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Joe Rogan endorse a plan by the federal government to distribute health spending cards worth up to $5,600, with every American qualifying for one? No, that's not true: The claim that the government is freely giving out health spending cards with thousands of dollars on them is a scam. Such scams are usually attached…

Did University of Pennsylvania students chant, "We want Jewish genocide!" at a pro-Palestine rally in Philadelphia? No, that's not true: The chant was, "Israel, Israel, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide." The student group posted a clarification on Instagram after their chant was misrepresented. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram published by @jewishlivesmatter on October 17,…

Did President Joe Biden say he was born in Israel in a speech he made during the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: During his speech, Biden explained why he believed Israel was developed. An official transcript records him saying "why it was born," not "where I was born." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X,…

Did a Wall Street Journal article state that it was "an American MK-84" bomb that hit the Gaza hospital on October 17, 2023? No, that's not true: The newspaper did not publish that. The only supporting "evidence" in the social media post that made this claim was a photo from 1991 unrelated to the October 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. The claim…

Did Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan say his country may get involved in the Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: His words as cited in a social media post were both misconstrued and altered. Erdogan did not talk about military intervention -- he called for the world to come together to stop violence in Gaza. The claim originated from a…

Was the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on fire on October 18, 2023? No, that's not true: According to the caption of a photo from an image hosting site, this fire happened outside the security gates of the embassy. The embassy said in an October 18, 2023, statement it was open for business. The claim appeared on X, formerly Twitter, on…

Does a video show "pro-Palestine activists" setting fire to a police station in Brussels in October 2023? No, that's not true: The footage is from January 2021, when people in Belgium were protesting police violence after a Black man died while in police custody. The video, published on multiple international news websites in 2021, has nothing to do with the…

Does a video show Palestinian children "searching for burnt food" after airstrikes that occurred during the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: The footage predates by three months the conflict that arose after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The mislabelled video documented the aftermath of a fire that destroyed tents in a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon,…

Did U.S. Marines capture a "deep state base" in a "bloody battle" in Camp San Luis Obispo, California? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. The claim appeared in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content that is often mistaken for real news. The story appeared in…

Does a video show displaced Palestinian people who had no place to go sleeping outdoors on the ground? No, that's not true: The video was filmed in early August 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, during World Youth Day, an international Catholic pilgrimage and gathering with the pope. The video is unrelated to the Hamas-Israel conflict and Israel's October 13, 2023, evacuation…

Does a video on social media show scenes of Egyptian Bedouin Muslims heading to the border of Gaza to demand the borders be opened for Palestinians and to participate in a jihad "against Zionists"? No, that's not true: The video features two different scenes showing large numbers of trucks traveling together. Both predate the Hamas-Israel conflict that started in October…