Sick Netanyahu takes Twitter by storm, Get the full story here

Claim:

 In the first week of March 2024, a picture went viral on X (formerly Twitter), showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a hospital bed. Users claimed that Netanyahu had fallen sick after contracting a mutated form of the coronavirus

Fact check:

The Dfrac team conducted a Google reverse-image search and found that the picture had been circulating online since at least 2016. Upon investigation, they determined that it was a digitally manipulated version of a genuine photo originally shared on Netanyahu’s official Facebook page in October 2015. In this altered version, Netanyahu’s face was superimposed onto the original subject’s body, creating the illusion that the prime minister was the one lying in the hospital bed. However, no credible reports were confirming Netanyahu’s hospitalization due to COVID-19.

The initial post incorrectly claimed that the photograph depicted Sara Netanyahu visiting a patient named Adel Bennett, who had been injured in a terrorist attack.

We translated the post using Google Translate:

This post by the Israeli prime minister stated that Sara visited Adel Bennett and her son Natan at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. They had been injured in the terrorist attack that occurred in Jerusalem amd Sara spent time with Adel and her parents, offering support and listening to their experiences. She promised to seek assistance from the state for the family. After the visit, Sara hhad praised Adele’s bravery and resilience in the face of unimaginable cruelty. She condemned the attackers and called for justice.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had reported in 2015 that Rabbi Aharon Banita-Bennett, 22, was killed in the same attack, while his wife and 2-year-old son were injured.

Conclusion:

As the photo was horizontally flipped and digitally altered to replace the female patient’s face with that of Benjamin Netanyahu, we classify this image and the claim  as “False.”