Israel Hamas

Does a photo show that students in the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University installed inflatable dummies of paragliders, referencing one method that Hamas reportedly used during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel? No, that's not true: What could have been mistaken for two dummies in a low-quality picture on social media were emojis, not authentic objects. Photos of the…

Does a viral video prove that Israel voted "for Palestine" during a United Nations Security Council meeting? No, that's not true: In the meeting the then-president of the U.N. Security Council read a list of the countries supporting a resolution on Gaza days after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. He included Israel but he immediately corrected himself and…

Did President Joe Biden give $16 billion of American money away to Iran in 2023? No, that's not true: First, it's important to say that the amount in question is $6 billion, not $16 billion. Secondly, the money wasn't U.S. taxpayer dollars to begin with; the funds were Iranian financial assets that had been frozen in South Korea due to…

Does footage on social media show Palestinians celebrating at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem after they heard news of Iran's mid-April 2024 aerial attack on Israel? No, that's not true: The video was shot days before Iran launched drones and missiles against Israel. The video was recorded during the last Friday of Ramadan, according to a BBC reporter. Lead Stories…

Does a video on social media document a barrage of hundreds of cruise missiles and drones launched into Israel by Iran on April 13, 2024? No, that's not true: The video, found in a variety of posts, appeared on social media several years before Iran's 2024 attack on Israel. Lead Stories found examples of the clip dating back to 2022…

Did the Israel Defense Forces not open fire near trucks delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza on February 29, 2024? No, that's not true: The Israel Defense Forces officially acknowledged that Israeli soldiers fired shots within proximity of the incident. However the exact circumstances of the events leading up to the death of dozens of people remain disputed at the time…

Did Aaron Bushnell comment on Reddit that "Palestine will be free when all the jews are dead"? No, that's not true: Bushnell, the 25-year-old U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not make the comment on the Reddit website. While his account was deleted after his death, searches using archives…

Does a video show Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talking about his plan to "liberate" or "recolonize" Black people of Africa? No, that's not true: The clip cut off a sentence from his 2016 African Summit speech where he made it clear he was quoting a statement by a historical figure. On that occasion, Netanyahu said nothing about "recolonization." The…

Did American actress Angelina Jolie in 2024 call on the world to "unite against Israel"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence corroborating the claim. This phrase has been falsely attributed to Jolie since at least 2006, according to Lead Stories' research. That's 17 years before the current Hamas-Israel war began in 2023. The quote was not part…

Does a video clip shared by the official account of the State of Israel show 23,000 tons of tents and shelter equipment that were trucked into Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: This is a stock video clip that shows a refugee camp in Palanca, Moldova which was uploaded to iStock…