Old video falsely shared as a Saudi Sheikh congratulating Netanyahu for killing Hezbollah leaders
In the wake of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a video (here, here and here) of Israel’s prime minister on a video call with an Arab is going viral on social media. Netizens are sharing this video, claiming it shows the Saudi Sheikh congratulating him through a video call for killing Hezbollah terrorists. Let’s examine the truth behind this claim.
Claim: This video shows the Saudi Sheikh congratulating Netanyahu via video call for killing the Hezbollah leader.
Fact: This video is from 2019 and features a conversation between Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud, discussing support for Netanyahu during the Likud party leadership election, and has no relation to the recent Israeli attack on Hezbollah. Therefore, the claim in the post is FALSE.
While conducting a reverse image search on keyframes from the shared video, we discovered the original version, which dates back to 2019. News organizations Al Mayadeen and TRT Arabic uploaded this video to their official verified YouTube channels on 27 December 2019, with the caption: “Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud calls Netanyahu from Riyadh during the Likud Party voting process to offer support and wishes he could vote for Netanyahu.”
Further research confirmed (here, here and here) that the video shows Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud speaking with Netanyahu during a December 2019 call, which took place during the Likud party leadership election. Saud expressed his support for the prime minister and emphasized his hopes for peace in the Middle East. Despite facing hostility in Jerusalem, Saud has been a vocal supporter of Israel, promoting closer ties between the two nations.
According to news reports, Mohammed Saud tweeted about his video call with Netanyahu. However, the link to his original account is not working as it has been suspended; his new account can be found here.
The archived version of this tweet is here, in which Saud posted the video and mentioned that Netanyahu called him, expressing hope that Netanyahu would bring peace to Middle Eastern countries.
Additionally, a search of the internet using relevant keywords found no evidence that the Saudi Arabian king or any other officials recently held a video call with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu.
To sum up, a 2019 video of Netanyahu’s call with a Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud is being falsely shared as footage of a recent call of a Saudi Sheikh congratulating Netanyahu on killing the Hezbollah leader.