On 13 June 2025, Israel launched attacks on more than a dozen targets across Iran under the codename Operation Rising Lion, with the stated objective of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel reportedly damaged key nuclear facilities and military installations, killing several of Iran’s top military leaders. In retaliation, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel under the name Operation True Promise 3.
The United States escalated its involvement by launching direct strikes on Iran under Operation Midnight Hammer. On the night of 21–22 June 2025, seven B-2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, severely damaging underground enrichment facilities. The U.S. described the attack as a pre-emptive move to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities, while Iran condemned it as an act of war and vowed retaliation.
Amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, a video is circulating on social media (here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows a large crowd of Indian nationals living in Israel fleeing to shelters following Iran’s recent attacks. In this article, let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The video shows a large crowd of Indian nationals in Israel fleeing to shelters following Iran’s attacks.
Fact: The video is from Habima Square in Tel Aviv and shows a false alarm during Israel’s Memorial Day on 29 April 2025, caused by a misunderstanding involving ushers. About 20 people were injured in the panic. The video does not show Indian nationals being attacked in Israel. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an Instagram post by Jewish Breaking News (archived), dated 30 April 2025, featuring the same visuals. This confirms that the video is not recent and is unrelated to the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict. The post described the clip as dramatic footage showing crowds fleeing from Habima Square in Tel Aviv, which was later clarified to be a false alarm triggered by an incident involving the ushers.
Taking clues from the Instagram post, we used relevant keywords and found a news report by Israel Hayom covering the incident. According to this report, on the evening of 29 April 2025, panic broke out during a Yom HaZikaron ceremony at Habima Square in Tel Aviv after attendees mistook ushers for suspicious individuals. A citizen alerted police about people wearing vests, leading to the arrest of three men who failed to identify themselves. They were later confirmed to be event staff from Kafr Qara, Nazareth, and Sulam. Police repeatedly clarified that this was not a security incident. Around 20 people sustained minor injuries during the chaos and were treated at Ichilov Medical Center.
The incident occurred during Israel’s Memorial Day, observed from sundown on 29 April to sundown on 30 April, to honour fallen soldiers and terror victims. Following a nationwide siren at 8 p.m., official ceremonies began but were disrupted by the false alarm, leading to cancellation. Personal belongings were left scattered at the site as people fled, fearing a terrorist attack.
To sum up, a video showing public panic during Israel’s Memorial Day is falsely shared as Indians in Israel fleeing following Iran’s attacks.
