"You Raised A Finger Here": Netanyahu's Sarcastic Reply To AI Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday replied on X to a satirical post that used an image to mock claims his recent appearances were created by artificial intelligence.

In the message, posted on Monday, he wrote: "You raised a finger here" with a thinking-face emoji. The reply was directed at an account that had stated recent images of Netanyahu were not AI-generated and added that he had always had six fingers. The comment follows weeks of online speculation that a televised address by the prime minister showed him with six fingers on one hand, prompting accusations that the footage was fake.

In a separate video posted earlier, Netanyahu appeared at a cafe outside Jerusalem while receiving a cup of coffee. 

"I'm dead for coffee," he said,  then raised both hands to the camera and asked: "Do you want to count the number of fingers?" -- a reference to the claims about the earlier footage. In the same recording, he told Israelis to follow safety instructions during any rocket alerts. Their resilience, he said, gave strength to him, the government, the army and the Mossad intelligence agency.

He added that Israel was striking Iran and Lebanon hard, but gave no further details. The remarks come as the conflict with Iran, in which the United States is also taking part, enters its third week. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Sunday it would pursue and kill Mr Netanyahu if he was still alive, describing him as a "child-killer". 

The statement was reported by the state news agency IRNA. Israel's ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, has rejected the online rumours. He said he had seen Netanyahu in person several times and confirmed the cafe video was genuine."Prime Minister Netanyahu is alive," Azar said. "This video at the cafe is not AI-fabricated. There is a lot of disinformation."