Did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admit in a televised speech that Israel violates international laws and is committing genocide in Gaza? No, that's not true: Netanyahu's voice has been digitally altered in a video on social media.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video with partially Hungarian text (archived here) on November 2, 2023. It has been circulating online for some time with English audio and Arabic subtitles. The text in the video (translated from Hungarian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
Terror openly announced. He has extensive experience.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Nov 13 11:37:46 2023 UTC)
There is a clear lack of synchronization between Netanyahu's spoken words and his lip movements. Furthermore, reputable news outlets have never reported him making such an announcement, which would have made headlines. A search (archived here) for the phrase "Netanyahu speech war crimes," using Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites did not reveal any factual reports containing these headlines.
The video's creator used the footage from the Israeli prime minister's October 9, 2023, English-language speech in which he announced that his country was at war. Lead Stories found the video while reviewing English-language content on the prime minister's YouTube channel. Notably, there is a distinct resemblance in hand gestures between the two video clips, with Netanyahu touching his hands and nodding at the beginning. In addition his clothes and the background match.
The fake speech starts as follows:
Our latest achievements: We have bombed a hospital, full of patients, doctors, women and children in Gaza. We have violated all international laws and yet no one dares to condemn what we are doing. Not only that, but we are also committing genocide in Gaza.
Here is what Netanyahu actually said at the outset of his original speech:
Israel is at war. We didn't want this war. It was forced upon us in the most brutal and savage way. But though Israel didn't start this war, Israel will finish it.
