Lighthouse Journalism came across an image being shared on social media platforms. It was claimed that the image was recent and Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is under fire from the Islamic resistance in Iraq. During the investigation we found the post to be misleading. The image used along with the claim is old.
Claim:
X user Lou Rage shared the image on his profile.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other users too are sharing the same image.
Investigation:
We started our investigation with a keyword search first.
We found a report which mentioned that an Iraqi resistance drone hit Tel Aviv airport.
We also found several reports about the same.
The reports mentioned that the Resistance group said that it has targeted the airport with drones. Hence it was clear that the airport was targeted.
We then ran a reverse image search on the image used along with the post. We did not find this image being used in any news report.
We found the image at a website, arti49.com.
The report which was originally in Turkish mentioned: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lay down with his entire team due to the rocket alarm.
The report was uploaded on 17th October 2023.
We also found the video of the incident posted on X on October 18, 2023.
We also found a report about the incident on the website of Times of Israel.
The report said: Air raid sirens rang out earlier today at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was boarding a flight to depart Israel. The entire delegation was forced to get off the plane and lie on the tarmac, covering their heads, as per protocol.
Conclusion: The image being shared along with the claim that Ben Gurion Airport is under fire is actually old. Viral posts are misleading.
