A terrorist attack in a bomb shelter? An IDF base hidden beneath a hospital? A phone call that guides missile strikes? An ammonia gas leak in Haifa? An Israeli Air Force pilot captured by Iran? In the digital age—and especially in the age of AI—warfare is not only about firepower but also about perception. And the battle over public consciousness can sometimes be just as damaging.
Online platforms tolerate everything, and today’s advanced AI can generate nearly anything—from photos to videos—that appear entirely real. The result: a flood of manipulated or entirely fake content, either created digitally from scratch or repurposed from unrelated events, designed to instill fear, stir unrest or spread an “alternative truth.”
Since the outbreak of the war with Iran, social media has been inundated with such content. Even seasoned journalists and analysts were duped this week into sharing blatant disinformation.
The sources behind these deceptions range widely, from Iranian intelligence and cyber operatives to lone actors around the world, including in Israel. Some of them are known fake-news influencers. In a post-truth world, accelerated by the Trump era and the erosion of fact-checking, disinformation spreads at lightning speed.
With help from Israel’s National Cyber Directorate and the Israeli research group FakeReporter, which monitors and investigates suspected disinformation campaigns, we’ve compiled a selection of the most viral fake news stories from this past week.
'Avoid shelters': Spoofed alerts and panic messages
One viral message sent to tens of thousands in Israel this week came in the form of an SMS titled OrefAlert, warning residents to stay out of bomb shelters. The message coincided with another false claim: that fuel supplies were being cut off. The National Cyber Directorate, which has increased its staffing amid the war, quickly clarified that the alerts were fake and designed to sow panic.
But that was just the beginning. A video that supposedly showed a powerful missile strike in Tel Aviv, allegedly launched by Iran, was shared widely on the X social media platform, racking up hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of retweets. In reality, it was footage of a chemical plant explosion in Tianjin, China from nine years ago.
Another viral video, shared by an X account with nearly 300,000 followers, claimed Israel was building a military base beneath a hospital. “They love human shields,” read the caption. The video garnered 1.4 million views and 18,000 retweets. However, the footage was from an NBC report from last year about patients being relocated to an underground parking garage at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
Other AI-generated or edited visuals appeared at the same time, including alleged “simulations” showing residential buildings in Israel hiding missiles, F-35s, nd even, bizarrely, battleships. The implication? Iran wasn’t deliberately targeting civilians; the buildings were hiding military targets. These were blatant fabrications.
Fake Home Front Command messages, gas leaks and missile-guiding phone calls
The disinformation barrage didn’t stop at videos. Last Saturday, the National Cyber Directorate issued an alert about fake WhatsApp messages and robocalls impersonating the Home Front Command. These urged civilians to prepare emergency kits or visit fraudulent websites. The real Home Front Command clarified: it never initiates personal calls and only uses its app and official website to issue public guidance.
One widely shared WhatsApp message warned against answering calls from numbers starting with “000,” “099,” or “059,” claiming they were “a new Hamas and Hezbollah operation” to track your location and fire missiles at you. “You can’t be geolocated from an incoming call,” cyber officials emphasized. The aim of such messages is simply fearmongering.
Even the Israel Electric Corporation was forced to respond to a fake message claiming that planned nationwide power outages were imminent. “There are no planned blackouts,” the company clarified in a formal post.
Another viral message warned of an ammonia gas leak in Haifa after a missile barrage injured eight people and damaged buildings. The municipality quickly issued a denial: “This message is not from the City of Haifa. No such incident occurred. This is a phishing or cyberattack attempt. Do not click the attached link.”
'Pilot captured' and other fake headlines
Disinformation also took the form of fabricated international headlines. One viral claim reported that Iran had downed a U.S. F-35 fighter jet and was searching for the pilot. A follow-up post said the pilot, supposedly an Israeli woman named “Sara Achronot” (a nod to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth), had been captured. IDF spokespeople immediately debunked the story, and FakeReporter researcher Tal Hagin traced the images: the aircraft explosion was from 2024, and the female pilot was a Chilean naval aviator, Daniela Figueroa, photographed in 2021.
Another video, shared widely after a deadly missile strike in Bat Yam destroyed several buildings, claimed to show the moment of impact. It even made it to television broadcasts—until professionals noticed red flags: the clip was uploaded unusually fast, before most civilians had even emerged from shelters, and featured high-quality visuals unlikely to come from security cameras. Closer analysis revealed police cars already present before the supposed strike, and missiles appearing suddenly on-screen without a visible trail. The video was CI-generated.
'Elite fleeing Iran' and memes mistaken for truth
Disinformation wasn’t limited to anti-Israel voices. Fake news also came from pro-Israel sources, including a doctored New York Times front page allegedly showing the headline: “Three things can be seen from space—The Great Wall of China and Netanyahu’s balls.” Whether meant as satire or support for the prime minister, many social media users took it at face value.
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One video that duped even Israeli journalists claimed to show Iranian elites fleeing the country by private jet. Never mind that Iran had closed its airspace at the time—the video was originally posted in July 2023.
Another fake, shared by the X account, The Persian Jewess, and picked up by Israeli news outlets, showed Iranians “celebrating” Israeli attacks. FakeReporter traced the clip to two years ago. Similarly, right-wing activist Miri Barabi posted a dramatic video of what she claimed was Iran’s airport in ruins. It turned out to be a recycled AI-generated clip, long debunked.
Fighting fake news: a shared responsibility
To help the public stay vigilant, the National Cyber Directorate has issued guidelines for identifying suspicious content:
Check the source: Is it credible, or just a rumor?
Verify with trusted outlets: Has the story appeared in reputable media?
Examine visuals carefully: Look for distortions or inconsistencies.
Watch for language cues: Dramatic or error-filled writing can indicate a fake.
FakeReporter also urges skepticism when encountering particularly sensational, angry, or “juicy” claims. If you can’t find verification through a basic search, the odds of it being fake increase significantly.
Roi Soussan, director of public affairs at FakeReporter, put it bluntly: “These fakes distort reality and aim to cement a false narrative for political purposes. We must pause, think critically, and verify before believing or sharing. Combating disinformation requires collective responsibility—by the public, by social platforms, and by the government, which must treat the digital sphere as a battlefield, both in wartime and in peacetime.”