The internet thinks Benjamin Netanyahu is dead

Yes, you read that right, large swathes of people online currently believe that the leader wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is dead – here’s if there’s any truth to the theories.

Everything kicked off two days ago when a post started circulating on X which claimed to be a deleted statement from the official Prime Minister of Israel account saying Netanyahu’s status was “unconfirmed” and that “efforts are underway to establish contact”.

While this post has since been confirmed to NOT have been posted and deleted by the Israeli PM’s X account, it led to a large number of people taking the statement at face value, fanning the flames of rumour.

Inevitably, this post led to people joining the dots – like many do in these kind of scenarios – to when Netanyahu was last seen which was a few days before.

Despite all this, the real climax to the theories came on the evening of the 12 March, when the Government Press Office of Israel live streamed an address by Netanyahu in which he spoke for over half an hour.

However, it was one moment where the Israeli PM appeared to have six fingers on both hands which sent the internet into meltdown.

The shot appeared to show him with one extra digit on both his hands, causing many to accuse the video of being AI generated to cover for his absence.

AI notoriously struggles to generate hands and fingers, facilitating the link to be made in this theory.

However, multiple fact-checking sites confirmed the footage to be genuine, attributing the six fingers to an optical illusion of the camera angle, lighting and form of the hand.

Rumours have continued into the end of this week after a post started circulating claiming to be a security briefing conducted in the absence of Netanyahu.

However, it was later reported that it was not a meeting he was expected to attend and also not the first security meeting he had ever missed like some claimed.

While many of these theories have been disproven or non-confirmed, the fanfare was enough to force a response from the Prime Minister’s office, posting a screenshot of the speech on the 12 March to X alluding to Netanyahu’s safety.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that his office confirmed that he his fine.

In a statement to Turkish news site Anadolu Ajansi, it said: “These are fake news; the Prime Minister is fine.”

Now, on Sunday 15 March, Netanyahu posted a video to his personal X account in which the Israeli PM could be seen buying a coffee and showing his hands in a direct rebuttal to the rumours online.

The video was captioned “They say I’m what?”

This comes as Iranian news outlet IRNA reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has vowed to kill Netanyahu “if he is still alive”, of course playing on those rumours surrounding his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, closer to home in the UK, Your Party MP Ayoub Khan has said he suspects Netanyahu is “dead or at least very seriously injured”.

However, there is little to back up this claim.

We’ve seen effectively an internet rumours go from an alleged deleted post to being picked up by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in just a matter of days, and there’s good reason for it too.

Of course, this war between the US, Iran, Israel and allies is the biggest talking point in the world currently, and Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most powerful leaders in the world.

However, throw in the fact that he is also one of the most disliked political figures on the globe currently, wanted by the ICC and the leader of a nation which the UN commission of inquiry said last year has committed genocide in Gaza, and you can see why many people would want to spread this rumour.

With all this in mind, with all the evidence weighed up, it is pretty clear that much of what is being presented as fact in misconstrued, such is the hazards of the digital age, and that, especially in a nation with some of the most rigorous security measures in the world, Netanyahu is almost definitely absolutely fine.

Make of that what you will.