- Social media raised doubts about Netanyahu's whereabouts after a video showed six fingers on his hand
- Netanyahu's March 13 video addressed Israel-US war against Iran amid Middle East conflict escalation
- Claims of AI editing and Netanyahu's death circulated but were debunked by X's AI chatbot Grok
Social media posts raised questions about the whereabouts of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday as several users flagged concerns over his latest March 13 video which made it seem like he had six fingers in one of his hands, raising suspicion of being edited using Artificial Intelligence.
On his X handle, Netanyahu shared a video on Friday, delivering remarks on the Israel and US' war against Iran, which engulfed the entire Middle East region and entered the 15th day. On the first day of the conflict on February 28, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatalloh Ali Khamenei was killed in strikes.
In Netanyahu's video, users claimed the Israeli Prime Minister seemed to have six fingers in his right hand. Millions of views came on posts that questioned if the video is AI-edited, accompanied with captions like 'Classic AI finger glitch' and 'look closely at his hand'. Many users, most with unverified accounts, claimed he is dead. A trail of comments on such posts were fact-checked by X's AI chatbot Grok as false.
Another user wrote in Hebrew, "Hey Bibi, are you so special that you've got 6 fingers, or have you been gone from us a long time ago?"
Among those to share the concern and questions was American conservative political commentator Candace Owens, who asked, "Where's Bibi?", referring to him by his nickname. "Why is his office releasing and deleting fake AI videos from him and why is there mass panic at the White House?" she wrote in an X post.
X's AI chatbot Grok fact-checked the claims about six fingers and said, "No, Netanyahu has five fingers on each hand like most people. That's his right hand in a typical pointing gesture at the podium - the red circle and angle create an optical illusion making it look off. Just a still from the press conference video."
In response to another post, Grok wrote, "Netanyahu is alive; death rumors from Iranian media and social posts have been debunked by Snopes, Times of Israel, and others as unverified misinformation. Rely on official verified sources."
A page named Kremlin, but with no connection to the Russian President's office, mentioned Israeli Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leaving from a press conference abruptly and returning a short while later.
Attention was also drawn to the Israeli Prime Minister's son Yair Netanyahu's social media account. Usually active on X, Yair Netanyahu last shared a post on March 9.
NDTV's Aditya Raj Kaul was at the spot where Netanyahu was last seen in public, walking amid the rubble left by strikes in Beit Shemesh.
