E-Paper
Netanyahu ‘dead’ claims debunked by Israel PM’s office; Candace Owens says 'hard to trust anything'
Conservative podcaster Candace Owens claimed it was ‘hard to trust anything’ even as the Israel PMO debunked viral claims about Benjamin Netanyahu's death.
Conservative podcaster Candace Owens reacted to news of the Israel Prime Minister's office debunking viral social media claims about Benjamin Netanyahu being dead. Owens was among the many people on social media to wonder where Netanyahu was amid unverified claims of him dying in an Iranian strike.
As per Turkey's state-run Andalou, the Israel PMO has now said “These are fake news; the Prime Minister is fine.” The speculation and subsequent clarification comes at a sensitive time for Israel as it is engaged in war with Iran, after joint strikes with the US took out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Also Read | Yair Netanyahu Twitter: Son's last post date draws attention amid Benjamin Netanyahu death rumors
Owens remarked on the matter in a X post of her own.
What Candace Owens said about Benjamin Netanyahu
After the clarification from Netanyahu's office began to circulate online, Owens shared one of the posts on the matter. The post read “The Israeli PM’s office says the assassination in the Iranian strike is fake news. They told this to Anadolu, but they failed to present Bibi’s recent location, a video, or anything else.”
It added “We can wait until Bibi comes out and tells us he is alive and well. That of course if he is alive and well. Iran also claimed their leader was alive and while he was dead. So we prefer proof.”
Sharing it, Owens penned her own thoughts and wrote “I don’t know that Bibi is dead.”
She continued, “but it is very evident there is real panic at the White House and this war is not going as planned.” Owens went on to add “And with the way Trump casually lied about bombing the school girls, it’s hard to trust anything coming from this admin.”
In a follow-up post, she wrote “There is a cover up afoot regarding the health of Bibi Netanyahu. The United States government should be addressing this head on but there is a directive to stay mum. What’s going on? Haven’t they lied enough?”
Viral claims about Benjamin Netanyahu debunked
The claims about Netanyahu gained traction when people online pointed out an apparent sixth finger in his hand, in a video posted from the PM's official account. This led to claims of the video being AI generated.
Further, Netanyahu's son Yair – who is normally active on X – appeared to go silent, fueling more speculations. Amid this, photos purportedly showing Netanyahu injured also emerged online.
However, these photos have now been identified to have been AI generated. Meanwhile, there was nothing to indicate that the video of Netanyahu had any AI intervention. While Yair's silence was taken to have deeper meaning, the PMO's office confirmed that Netanyahu was fine.
