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 a grieving father cuddling the lifeless body of his toddler who died as a result of the October 2023 Hamas-Israel violence? No, that's not true: The recording predates the October 2023 conflict. It went viral for the first time in 2021 with a description about a sick child being comforted by a pet cat. The story…

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…

Did celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay ban soccer player Megan Rapinoe from his restaurants for life? No, that's not true: This claim is from a satirical website with a disclaimer that tells readers everything on the website is fiction. There is no evidence from legitimate news sources that Ramsay has banned Rapinoe from his restaurants. The claim appeared in an article…

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…