Does a video circulating on social media show Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu running to a bunker to take shelter from an Iranian missile attack? No, that's not true: The video was posted to Netanyahu's Twitter account in December 2021, when there were no Iranian missile strikes on Israel. It shows Netanyahu hurrying to a vote in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on October 1, 2024. The caption read:
😂 🇮🇱HAHAHA THIS GENOCIDAL BITCH IS RUNNING TO HIS BUNKER! GOD BLESS IRAN!
Here's how the post looked on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Oct 2 14:16:41 2024 UTC)
Hinkle's post shows Netanyahu filmed from behind as he runs through a hallway under an audio track of mocking laughter.
The same video appeared on Netanyahu's Twitter (now X) account on December 13, 2021 (archived here), accompanied by the song "Eye of the Tiger." Its caption, translated from Hebrew to English by X's automatic translator, read:
I am always proud to run for you. 🇮🇱 💪
It was taken half an hour ago in the Knesset
The 2024 clip on X omits the end of Netanyahu's 2021 video, which shows him running up a flight of stairs. That makes it unlikely Netanyahu was running to a bunker, a structure that's generally underground.
Netanyahu was in fact running through the Knesset halls to vote on an explosives law, which ultimately passed by a single vote on December 13, 2021, according to Israeli news outlet Kikar Hashabat (archived here), whose headline on its story included: "... Netanyahu ran to vote." At the time, Netanyahu was not Israel's prime minister, but rather leader of the opposition.
There is no record of any Iranian attack on Israel during entire month of December 2021, as shown by a keyword search conducted on October 2, 2024 (archived here) on Google. Iran did fire some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Defense (archived here), the same day the video was posted on X.
At the time this fact check was written, Reuters had reviewed the same claim.
More Lead Stories fact checks on Benjamin Netanyahu can be found here.
