BREAKING: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Debunks Death Rumors With a Cup of Coffee.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself in an unusual position over the weekend – having to prove he’s still alive by posting a video of himself sipping coffee at a café.
The rumor mill went into overdrive after Iranian-backed media outlets suggested Netanyahu had been killed in recent strikes. Soon, social media was flooded with claims that the Israeli leader was dead.
Netanyahu’s response? A casual video of himself with a coffee cup, chatting with staff and showing off his five fingers to the camera.
“I love coffee. You know what? I love my people,” Netanyahu says in the video, playing with a Hebrew word that can mean both “dead” and “crazy about”.
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The video was filmed at a café on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Reuters confirmed Netanyahu’s visit by matching the footage with photos and recordings posted by the café itself.
But here’s where things get interesting. The coffee video was meant to shut down the death rumors. Instead, it opened up a whole new debate.
Some social media users pointed to an earlier video of Netanyahu where they claimed he appeared to have six fingers on one hand. To them, this was proof the footage was AI-generated .
Then Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok, which runs on X, added fuel to the fire. When users asked about the coffee shop video, Grok responded that it was “100% deepfake” and “AI-generated”.
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The problem? Grok was wrong.
X’s own fact-checking later clarified that Netanyahu does not have six fingers. The strange look in the earlier video was just shadows and the natural shape of his palm playing tricks on the camera . And the coffee shop video? Real, confirmed, and filmed that day.
Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu called the six-finger claims a hoax.
What Netanyahu Actually Said
Beyond proving he’s alive, Netanyahu used the video to send a message. He urged the Israeli public to keep following safety guidelines and staying near sheltered areas. He also made it clear that military operations against Iran and Lebanon would continue .
“We are doing things that I can’t share at the moment,” he said in the video. “The IDF has and will continue striking Iran and Lebanon very hard” .
This comes as the conflict between Israel, the US, and Iran continues to escalate. What started on February 28 with joint Israeli and US attacks on Iran has turned into a regional conflict with casualties on multiple sides .
While internet debates rage about whether a video is real or fake, the war grinds on with real-world consequences.
Iran’s Health Ministry reports that at least 223 women and 202 children have been killed in the attacks since February 28. Three pregnant women and 12 children under five are among the dead.
Overall, more than 2,000 people have been killed across the Middle East since the conflict began, according to estimates. This includes civilians and military personnel in Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and other countries pulled into the fighting .
In Lebanon alone, Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people on Sunday, including four minors .
The death rumors didn’t come out of nowhere. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has openly stated it will “relentlessly pursue” Netanyahu . With that kind of threat hanging in the air, it’s no surprise that unconfirmed reports of his death spread quickly.
But the video controversy also shows something else: how easy it is for misinformation to spread in the middle of a war. First, rumors that Netanyahu was dead. Then, rumors that the video proving he’s alive was fake. Each claim gets picked up and shared thousands of times before anyone can check the facts.
Netanyahu’s office had to put out a simple statement: “These are fake news; the Prime Minister is fine” .
For now, the Israeli leader remains in Tel Aviv, alive, and very much in charge of a country at war. His coffee shop video may have sparked a debate about AI and deepfakes, but it also did what it was meant to do – show that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.
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