Key Takeaways:
- A Haredi protest in Jerusalem against the draft turned deadly after a bus crashed through the protest, killing one youth and injuring three others.
- Anti-Israel misinformation accounts on X were quick to falsely claim that the protest was a signal that Israel’s political stability was faltering and that the Israeli state had killed the protesting Haredi youth.
- This incident is another example of how quickly misinformation can spread online and how damaging it can be, particularly as more and more people turn to social media as their primary news source.
On January 6, 2026, tens of thousands of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters converged on the streets near the entrance to Jerusalem to rally against the conscription of Haredi youths into the IDF (unlike most 18-year-old Israelis who are drafted into the IDF, there’s a widespread exemption from military service for 18-year-old members of the Haredi community, which is now being legislated in the Israeli Knesset).
During the protest, which had devolved into disarray, a bus tore through the crowd, killing one teenager and injuring three other people. An Israeli police investigation into the incident is currently underway.
Even before the incident was picked up by mainstream media organizations, anti-Israel accounts and other bad actors on X (formerly Twitter) manipulated it into two false narratives: that the Haredi protests were emblematic of deep public discontent with the Israeli government and that the Israeli state was responsible for the killing of the Haredi youth.
In many instances, the accounts spreading this misinformation appeared to be supportive of the Iranian regime and used this incident to draw a parallel between the anti-government protests in Iran and the anti-draft protest in Jerusalem.
Here’s a look at these two false narratives and how they spread on X:
Narrative A: The Haredi Protest Threatens the Israeli Government
For anyone familiar with Israel and its political scene, Haredi protests against the draft (or other government actions) are nothing new.
However, using imagery from the Haredi protest, several accounts claimed that these were massive protests against the Netanyahu government, implying that they were a threat to its stability. Some accounts even ascribed false reasons to the protest.
The “news” account RKM posted a video of the protest and claimed that Israel was on the verge of a “civil war” due to “Gen-Z protests” amid “rising inflation, recession and corruption.” This fake news was viewed over 67,000 times and spread over 1,500 times.
The popular anti-Israel account @Jvnior also claimed that “civil war is about to erupt in Israel” and celebrated it.
CIVIL WAR IS ABOUT TO ERUPT IN ISRAEL
TAKBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! pic.twitter.com/3buKbtc9aE
— Jvnior (@Jvnior) January 7, 2026
Several accounts drew a parallel between this protest and those against the Iranian regime, with one tongue-in-cheek post sarcastically saying that the Haredi protest is a sign that “Israel is falling” (in reference to those claiming that the protests in Iran portend the end of the Ayatollah’s reign).
Another, pro-Iran account, Zahra Hamidia, shared a video of the Haredi protest along with the caption “Massive anti-government protests in Iran [sic]. Opps Sorry, It appears it’s not Iran, but Tel Aviv [sic].” This post appears to cast a pall of illegitimacy over the Israeli government, akin to the illegitimacy that some observers grant the Islamic Republic.
Massive anti-government protests in Iran.
Opps Sorry, It appears it’s not Iran, but Tel Aviv.pic.twitter.com/hWh1NUpEpX
— Zahra Hamidia?? (@ZahraHamidia) January 6, 2026
This isn’t the first time that pro-Iran accounts have used Israeli protests to claim that it’s a sign of the fragility of the government. Only hours before the Haredi protest, the Iran Military Media account shared a video of a protest, claiming that “Tel Aviv was shaken by massive anti-government riots last night.” Protests against the Netanyahu government are fairly common in Tel Aviv and the video shows nothing amounting to a “riot.”
Narrative B: The Israeli State Killed the Haredi Youth
Along with the claim that the Haredi protest is a symbol of the fragility of the Israeli government (or even Israel as a whole), the other fake narrative that spread on social media was that representatives of the Israeli state had killed the Haredi youth.
One post by the Europe-based account @AryJeay (which claims to be an Iranian researcher and writer) got almost half a million views after it claimed that “Israeli police bus runs over anti-regime protesters in Tel Aviv.”
MUST WATCH: Israeli police bus runs over anti-regime protesters in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/cFQiqlg5JA
— Arya – آریا (@AryJeay) January 6, 2026
Aside from the false information that it had been an Israeli police bus (any Israeli local could point out that it was a civilian bus from the “Extra” bus company), the incident did not occur in Tel Aviv. @AryJeay was not the only account to spread this misinformation – popular bad actor Sulaiman Ahmed also posted that it had been in Tel Aviv (and added the fake information that 10 people had been killed).
Along with the claim that it was a police bus, another post by the account @Jvnior reached 778,000 views after it falsely asserted that an “IDF soldier just RAN OVER Orthodox Jews with a bus on the streets of ‘israel’.” Hardly surprising coming from an account that recently posted “There is Nothing wrong with being antisemitic.”
BREAKING: IDF soldier just RAN OVER Orthodox Jews with a bus on the streets of ‘israel’ ??
Over 30+ casualties reported, and counting.
Yes, jews in israel are now murdering each other. pic.twitter.com/mAGpTHjff3
— Jvnior (@Jvnior) January 6, 2026
Another X user, the pro-Iranian regime account “Persian Girl,” also posted the video of the bus rushing through the crowd, along with the words “Oh no, what happened to the only democracy in the Middle East?” greatly implying that the government was responsible for the bus hitting the protesters as a means of quelling the dissent.
Oh no, what happened to the only democracy in the Middle East? ? https://t.co/svYk3yNkPW
— Persian Girl ?? (@Persianserene1) January 6, 2026
Whether it’s spreading fake news about the nature of the recent Haredi protest or accusing Israel of killing one of the protesters, it is clear that anti-Israel actors have taken advantage of the incident to infect social media with misinformation about Israel’s political stability or the government’s supposed repression of protesters.
It appears that several of these peddlers of lies are supportive of the Iranian regime, making it even more concerning.
Cumulatively, these posts have reached in excess of a million users in under 24 hours, demonstrating how misinformation can spread on social media at a dangerous speed, negatively influencing those who use these platforms as a primary news source.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
