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Is Netanyahu absent from key cabinet meets? ‘Death’ rumors swirl despite new PMO photos, videos
Old cabinet meeting videos showing Benjamin Netanyahu absent fueled death rumors online. Israel’s PMO earlier shared recent sightings debunking the claims.
On Monday, amid the debunked rumors of Benjamin Netanyahu's death, videos of an Israeli security cabinet meeting surfaced on social media, which showed Netanyahu crucially absent. Multiple reports noted that this is the seventh straight cabinet meeting Netanyahu has missed amid the ongoing war with Iran.
Netanyahu's reported absence reignited rumors about Netanyahu being killed in an Israeli air strike. However, there are no reports of an Israeli security council meeting on Monday, and the videos that show Netanyahu absent appear to be old.
Here are the videos:
The rumors continued to spread despite the Israeli PMO office earlier debunking the claims of Netanyahu's death with videos of the Israel PM at a coffee shop on Sunday, followed by another in Jerusalem Monday where the Israeli Prime Minister could be seen smiling.
Here's Monday's video from Jerusalem:
Earlier, when the video of Netanyahu at a coffee shop was shared, Grok, the AI chatbot of Elon Musk's social media platform, X, claimed that the video is "100% deepfake." Amid that, the coffee shop released purported proof that Netanyahu indeed visited them Sunday.
While that momentarily curbed the rumors, the reports of Netanyahu's purported absence from the cabinet meeting added fuel to them.
Netanyahu's Message To The Nation Dubbed “Deepfake”
On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu released an official address to the people of Iran, even as Israel continues to strike Tehran with missiles alongside the United States. Netanyahu wished the people of Iran on the festival of light, with the caption reading: "To the brave people of Iran, I wish you, as I do every year, a happy holiday season, beginning with the Festival of Lights."
WATCH: Iran's missile might forces Netanyahu to kneel: Regime change dreams shattered as IDF begs for...?
However, the video sparked similar questions about it being AI-generated. Mark Levin, a popular TikToker, claimed that the captions in the video was strategically placed to hide inconsistencies in Netanyahu's hands. Additionally, Levin claimed that the voice appears to be AI-generated.
Ht.com can confirm that no credible sources, so far, has marked the video as a deepfake.
Rumors about Netanyahu being killed in an Iranian air strike first circulated in the aftermath of late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death in a US-Israeli air strike. Additionally, hoaxes also claimed that Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, and Netanyahu's brother, Iddo, were struck by Iranian missiles. But those reports also turned out to be false.
