Does footage on social media show Israelis panicking and running after Iranian missiles and drones hit Israel's airspace April 13, 2024? No, that's not true: The footage had already been on social media for a week when Iran attacked Israel. It shows a crowd running on April 6, 2024 toward the Four Seasons hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson made an appearance outside the hotel to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. It had nothing to do with the attack launched a week later by Iran against Israel.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) where it was published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on April 13, 2024. The post had the caption:
#BREAKING: Footage Reportedly Showing Israelis Panicking After Iranian Attacks Reach Israel
Russia calls for an immediate ceasefire to evade a potential world War III
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Sun Apr 14 19:04:35 2024 UTC)
The video claims to show Israelis running in panic from the Iran attacks. Lead Stories has not been able to determine the original source for the video but comparing the building in the video with a Google earth search, the structure, terracotta-colored horse sculpture and surroundings match the Four Seasons hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina and not a location in Israel.
At :05 in the eight-second video, a tall white building with palm trees in front, and the partially obscured sculpture, can be seen with a large crowd of people in front of it:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Sun Apr 14 19:06:12 2024 UTC)
That building, with the exact same round black adornment atop the peaked part of the facade, is the Four Season Hotel located at Posadas 1086 88, C1011ABB Cdad. There is also a crosswalk visible in the video. A Google Earth street view (archived here) shows the tall white building with the palm trees in front as well as the crosswalk:
(Source: Google maps screenshot taken on Sun Apr 14 19:08:32 2024 UTC)
A user on X posted a message (archived here) about the video in Spanish that, roughly translated on Google translate, said:
but guys there I am RUNNING TO LOUIS, it's the four seasons hdp
pero chicos ahí estoy yo CORRIENDO A LOUIS, es el four seasons hdp https://t.co/NcKQMcimfn
-- sofía VIÓ A LOUIS || -33🇦🇷 (@94tomlinsonn) April 14, 2024
They shared their own video with the caption, according to Google translate, that said:
I attach evidence of me running crazy bad
adjunto evidencia de yo corriendo re loquita mal pic.twitter.com/gHhk7dR0Wx
-- sofía VIÓ A LOUIS || -33🇦🇷 (@94tomlinsonn) April 14, 2024
An article published by Argentinian news outlet Infobae (archived here) on April 6, 2024, titled, "Louis Tomlinson arrived in Argentina to start performing his show in the month of May," detailed Tomlinson's arrival to the country and reported he was staying at the Four Seasons:
The same noise awaited the former One Direction a few kilometers later, at the door of the Four Seasons, where he is staying for this visit. Louis will sing at the José Amalfitani Stadium , better known as the Vélez Sarsfield field , next Saturday, May 18, to present his album Faith in The Future .
Tomlinson's official X account posted a message (archived here) about his appearance in Buenos Aires:
Meeting fans in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Louis will be back next month performing at Velez Sarsfield on his #FITFLatinAmerica tour. https://t.co/QaryE7ySqS pic.twitter.com/eX3P5bypKJ
-- LTHQ (@LTHQOfficial) April 7, 2024
Another video posted on X (archived here) shows Tomlinson outside the hotel meeting fans
NO LO PUEDO CREER pic.twitter.com/kyoslBUoZI
-- LOUIS ARGENTINA 🇦🇷 (@ltomlinsonarg) April 6, 2024
In April 2024, Boom Live reviewed the same claim about the same video.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Iran and Israel can be found here.
