Did the U.S. urge its citizens to leave Lebanon and urgently evacuate its embassy in Beirut? No, that's not true: The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has issued a statement saying it is open and operating normally. Since July 13, 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs has instructs U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to Lebanon. Additional advisories are to avoid…
Did an off-camera director coach the CNN team on what to do while they were reporting from Israel near the Gaza border during an airstrike? No, that's not true: The team was in communication with the studio while filming, but they were not receiving theatrical directions. A satirical audio track was added to the CNN footage by the social commentary…
Does a video show Americans marching in solidarity with Palestinians in Chicago to protest against the Hamas-Israel conflict in October 2023? No, that's not true: The footage is from a May 2021 protest in Chicago about the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. It is not a video of marchers displaying support for Palestinians after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7,…
Does a video shared to social media in October 2023 show "white Phosphorus bombs" dropped on Gaza? No, that's not true: The video was shot in Ukraine and was posted to social media in March 2023, which predates the October 7, 2023, start of the Hamas-Israel conflict. The original clip showed an alleged attack made by Russian forces on the…
Did the BBC produce a video stating that Bellingcat proved Ukraine was selling NATO weapons to Hamas in the months leading up to the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel? No, that's not true: The BBC website does not contain such reporting, and investigative journalism group Bellingcat did not publish the purported investigation either. Both organizations publicly refuted the claim.…
Did Israel Defense Forces evacuate air bases near Gaza on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: A video used to support the claim predates the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. Neither the Israeli government nor credible news reports have substantiated the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on October 7, 2023. The…
Does a video of parachutists landing in a crowd show Hamas militants dropping among Israeli citizens ahead of an attack at a musical festival on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The clip was originally posted to TikTok on September 27, 2023, which predates the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel. Furthermore, an analysis of the clip shared online…
Does a video show Russian President Vladimir Putin "warning that America should not interfere in the Israel Palestine war" amid the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The video of Putin is from December 2022 and he never mentioned Israel or Palestine in his comments, as the correct translation shows. He was talking about…
This fact check focuses only on claims surrounding a purported bombing of Saint Porphyrios Church on October 9, 2023. Was the nearly 900-year-old Saint Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church In Gaza destroyed by Israeli bombs? No, that's not true: After claims went viral that the church had been destroyed, the church posted messages on its Facebook account, reassuring the community that…
Did CNN show footage capturing Iranian lawmakers chanting "death to America" in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack of Israel? No, that's not true: The video circulating on social media was aired in 2020. The chanting was the reaction to the death of Qasem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian military official killed by a U.S. airstrike in Iraq…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.
