What was claimed
An image shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a ventilator in hospital.
Our verdict
This image isn’t real and appears to have been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Image of Benjamin Netanyahu in hospital is likely AI generated
27 November 2024
An image seemingly showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a hospital bed using a ventilator is not real and was likely created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Social media users have shared the image as evidence that Mr Netanyahu has suffered a “serious health issue”.
The image has been shared on Facebook recently but it has been circulating since at least November 2023, when it was shared widely on TikTok. Full Fact also previously fact checked the image in April 2024.
Mr Netanyahu did receive surgery for a hernia at the end of March 2024: five months after the image first began circulating. There have also been no reports of Mr Netanyahu being hospitalised since the image began recirculating and he has made a number of recent public appearances.
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How can we tell the image was made using AI?
Studying the picture in close detail gives us reason to believe the image was created using AI.
We’ve written before about how AI struggles to generate ears, and that seems to be the case here.
The shape of the man in the image’s left ear does not match the left ear seen in real photos of Mr Netanyahu.
AI-generated images often feature faces that look too smooth or glossy—something else that is apparent in this image of Mr Netanyahu.
Full Fact has debunked other AI images, as well as probable deepfake videos and audio of politicians, including of Democratic candidate for vice president in the 2024 US election Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Sir Keir Starmer (prior to him becoming Prime Minister).
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the image appears to have been generated using AI and there is no reason to believe the picture depicts a real world occurrence.