Key Takeaways:
- False claims are spreading rapidly during Operation Epic Fury, including rumors that Benjamin Netanyahu had been killed and that Tel Aviv had suffered catastrophic destruction.
- Viral allegations that Muslims and migrant workers were barred from bomb shelters in Israel were based on misattributed footage and ignored Israeli civil defense policy.
- The speed at which fabrications have spread indicates how warfare itself has changed. The information battlefield now moves faster than verification.
As this war enters its fifth full day, one reality is already clear:
Beyond the missiles and military manoeuvres, another battle has exploded across the information space.
This may prove to be the first major regional war defined not only by kinetic and explosive force, but by the industrial-scale manufacture of fiction.
In just a few days, demonstrably false claims have ricocheted across the internet:
- The Israeli prime minister assassinated.
- Muslims barred from bomb shelters.
- Secret Mossad cells operating inside Qatar.
- Israeli strikes on Gulf states being blamed on Iran.
A girls’ school in Iran was reportedly hit. Within hours, major outlets were reporting that U.S.–Israel deliberately targeted it and killed dozens of girls — citing Iranian state media.
Here’s what got less attention:
Open-source defense reporting had previously mapped the site… pic.twitter.com/NyWyUcTpVy
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 2, 2026
And this was not merely the work of anonymous troll accounts chasing social media engagement. Fabrications were amplified by verified influencers, repeated by political figures, and, in some cases, laundered through mainstream news platforms.
Even more alarming, AI systems themselves have been drawn into the chaos. X’s AI-powered Grok has, at times, surfaced or summarized claims that were unverified or outright false, illustrating a sobering reality. In an environment saturated with manipulated footage and coordinated narratives, even automated systems trained on “real-time information” can replicate distortions rather than correct them.
The lesson for future conflicts, whether in Israel or elsewhere, is sobering.
If the “fog of war” once referred to battlefield confusion, it now applies just as much to the digital front.
And that should concern anyone who still believes facts matter.
Below are some of the most dangerous fabrications currently circulating, along with the reality behind them.
1. Claim: Benjamin Netanyahu Was Killed in an Airstrike
In the past two days, amid frequent Iranian missile barrages targeting Israeli civilian centers, social media has been flooded with claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been “eliminated” in a strike on military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The narrative metastasized rapidly, with major X accounts spreading the claim, which originated directly from the regime, to millions of users. Headlines from low-credibility news sites appeared suggesting his “fate was unclear,” while a major Indian outlet ran a banner-style presentation quoting Iranian regime claims of a “lethal hit.”
This was despite the fact that there was no confirmation from Israeli authorities. The stories remained online even after Benjamin Netanyahu appeared publicly in an address that confirmed he was alive.
This is a classic wartime psychological operation: float the assassination of leadership, create the perception of instability, and force defensive denials.
The claim did not originate with independent journalists. It began with Iranian regime-linked messaging, but was still amplified globally.
2. Claim: Catastrophic Damage to Tel Aviv
Videos began circulating purporting to show “apocalyptic” devastation in Tel Aviv, with skyline explosions, entire districts engulfed in flames, and dramatic missile trails tearing through skyscrapers.
One such video was reposted by former French ambassador Gérard Araud, who appeared to believe one such video was legitimate.
Other clips used dramatic angles and recycled footage to imply citywide collapse.
Exhibit A: Fake video produced by Artificial Intelligence.
Exhibit B: Commentator Bushra Shaikh, who has appeared on the BBC, ITV, and GB News, demonstrating no intelligence.
She took it down, but we’ve saved the receipts. pic.twitter.com/jnPBQo0kv3
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 3, 2026
CNN even aired footage released by Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency showing rows of drones in underground tunnels, with the caption: “Footage released by the Iranian state-affiliated Fars news agency reveals rows of drones stored in underground tunnels and mounted on rocket launchers, with walls adorned by Iranian flags.”
It is not even clear whether this footage is real or simply more sophisticated propaganda.
The issue is not that the footage exists. The issue is context: regime propaganda presented without rigorous caveats by one of America’s largest news outlets.
The cumulative effect online is the impression that Israel and its major cities are suffering catastrophic, near-total destruction when they are not.
Missiles have struck and damage has been done to civilian areas, including apartment buildings and offices. But the apocalyptic imagery circulating online bears little resemblance to reality.
3. Claim: Non-Jews and Non-Israelis Barred from Shelters
This allegation resurfaced almost verbatim from the previous round of direct conflict with the Iranian regime: that “non-Jews,” migrant workers, or “BIPOC” individuals were being barred from bomb shelters in Israel.
One viral post by an independent journalist claimed: “Israelis do not allow anyone who isn’t a white Jewish Israeli citizen into their shelters… BIPOC are expendable to them.”
The accompanying video was later flagged with a Community Note on X, which pointed out that the footage had been misattributed. Rather than showing a missile strike in Tel Aviv, it was from the 2025 Wang Fuk Court fire in Hong Kong.
The note also highlighted several basic facts absent from the viral claim: Israeli law requires public bomb shelters to be open to everyone, and, in practice, shelters are shared by Jews, Muslims, Christians, migrant workers, and foreign residents alike.
It also pointed out a striking irony in the accusation. The claim rests on a racial framing that bears little resemblance to Israel’s demographics. The majority of Jewish Israelis are of Middle Eastern or North African heritage – Mizrahi or mixed backgrounds – not the caricature of “white Jewish Israelis” invoked in the viral post.
There is no Israeli civil defense policy barring Muslims, non-Jews, foreign workers, or non-citizens from shelters. Public shelters are open. Residential safe rooms protect whoever is inside. Emergency protocols do not ask for ethnicity or religion.
💣 @cnn claimed Israel doesn’t build bomb shelters for Arab towns, suggesting “bomb shelter apartheid.” That’s false.
A 1992 law mandates shelters in new buildings, not based on ethnicity but age.
But the bigger question: why does Israel need these shelters at all? pic.twitter.com/mS8kMPpTEE— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 16, 2025
The claim functions as a form of moral inversion propaganda: transforming a country under missile fire into the villain.
It is inflammatory and racially charged, and sadly it had already been viewed by millions before the Community Note correcting it even appeared.
4. Claim: Israel Striking Gulf States and Blaming Iran
Another viral allegation has asserted that Israel has been striking targets in Dubai while falsely attributing them to Iranian launches.
The post gained significant traction, including millions of views for a video posted by Pakistani-UK influencer Bushra Shaikh, who is frequently platformed on mainstream UK television.
A pending Community Note on the post states: “Dubai has a world-leading missile defence system and can track where missiles are being launched from. There is no evidence for these unsubstantiated claims.”
Modern Gulf states possess advanced radar tracking and missile attribution capabilities. Launch origin data is not guesswork. Ballistic trajectories are traceable.
The allegation is not merely dramatic, but totally collapses under basic scrutiny.
5. Claim: Mossad Cells Operating in Qatar
Perhaps the most extraordinary allegation circulating during the first days of the war came not from an anonymous account, but from one of the most widely watched political commentators in the United States.
In an episode of his show, Tucker Carlson claimed that authorities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar had arrested Israeli Mossad agents allegedly plotting bombings in those countries.
Since when was the “impartial” @BBCNews ever interested in what antisemite Tucker Carlson has to say?
Only when it suits the BBC’s anti-Israel agenda. pic.twitter.com/ptX1rx9Amw
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 3, 2026
Carlson presented the claim as evidence that Israel was attempting to widen the conflict across the Gulf.
“Why would the Israelis be committing bombings in Gulf countries which are also being attacked by Iran?” Carlson asked during the broadcast, adding: “Israel wants to hurt Iran, and Qatar, and the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and Oman and Kuwait.”
Tucker is an absolute lunatic.
1) He blames the damage against the Gulf States on Israel, even when those themselves are blaming The Islamic Republic.
2) He claims that the Saudis & Qatar arrested Mossad agents that planned to bomb those countries. This is completely made up pic.twitter.com/eNrmNUu95H
— AG (@AGHamilton29) March 2, 2026
The allegation was explosive, and swiftly denied.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry told reporters that the government had no information whatsoever about Mossad cells operating within its borders.
Tucker Carlson’s mendacious propaganda is now even too much for Qatar.
When Doha is swatting down your claims, you know you’ve drifted from commentary into fever-swamp delusions. pic.twitter.com/T0cik8fuw8
— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) March 3, 2026
The spectacle was notable for another reason: Qatar is hardly known for rushing to defend Israel. Yet even Doha moved quickly to shut down the claim.
Unprecedented Warfare
What we are witnessing is unprecedented. The scale and speed of misinformation surrounding Operation Epic Fury are unlike anything seen in previous conflicts, including the war in Gaza. Within hours, fabricated videos, recycled footage, and outright false claims spread across the internet to millions of viewers.
In this conflict, misinformation is not an occasional byproduct of war but has become a parallel battlefield.
False narratives originating from regime-linked sources are amplified almost instantly by algorithms, influencers, and social media accounts seeking engagement. Artificial intelligence tools trained on real-time online data can sometimes repeat those same distortions rather than correct them. In some cases, mainstream media outlets repeat false information and propaganda originating directly from the regime.
The result is an information environment in which fabricated stories can travel around the world in minutes, while corrections struggle to reach the same audience.
What makes this moment particularly striking is that misinformation is not confined to one side. Even accounts that broadly support Israel have, at times, shared dramatic footage or claims that later proved to be false or misattributed. In a digital ecosystem driven by virality, the pressure to post first often overwhelms the discipline of verification.
That reality underscores why careful verification has become more important than ever. Accounts dedicated to methodical fact-checking and media scrutiny, such as HonestReporting, rely on forensic tools, source verification, and digital analysis before publishing claims. In an environment flooded with manipulated imagery, recycled footage, and coordinated narratives, that level of scrutiny is increasingly rare.
This war will be studied for many reasons. One of them will almost certainly be the moment when digital information warfare became inseparable from the physical battlefield.
The lesson is a sobering one. In modern conflict, it is no longer enough to ask whether something happened.
It is equally important to ask who benefits from you believing that it did.
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