Amid the ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel, Lighthouse Journalism found a video being widely shared on social media. The video showed fire engulfing buses parked at a place. It was being claimed that this was a fire in Tel Aviv after Yemeni drones successfully hit the targets. During the investigation we found that the video is old from 2022 and not recent from the Iran and Israel conflict.
Claim:
X user Resistance on X shared the video with misleading claims.
Other users too are sharing the video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the screenshots of the video.
We found the video posted on several Facebook profiles in 2022.
The caption of the video stated (translation): A large fire broke out at the central bus station in Safad city, following extensive damage to several buses.
Through ‘About This’ prompt on Google Lens we found a news report where this screenshot was used in a news report.
The report said (translation): Buses caught fire early in the morning (Saturday) at the central station in the city of Safed. The firefighters who arrived at the scene identified 18 buses that were completely burned as a result of a powerful incendiary charge. The crews extinguished the fire and protected additional buses parked in the complex, so that they would not catch fire either. The police arrived at the scene, collected findings from which arson is suspected. At this point, the background is actually still under review. There are no casualties in the incident.
The news report was published in 2022.
We found another news report in Times of Israel.
The report mentioned: Eighteen buses were destroyed when they were torched in the early hours of Saturday morning in the northern city of Safed, in a suspected attack linked to criminal demands for the payment of protection money. A number of other vehicles were damaged in the attack at the central bus station. There were no injuries
We also found the video uploaded on AlJazeerq Arabic, two years ago.
The description said: The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that 18 passenger buses caught fire as a result of a fire that broke out early this morning in the parking lot of the central station in the city of Safed in the occupied Galilee. Video clips published by local media showed buses designated for transporting passengers being charred, while the broadcasting authority announced that the circumstances of the fire were being examined. #Palestine #Israel #Al Jazeera
Conclusion: 2022 video of 18 buses catching fire in Safed, Israel is being widely shared on social media as recent from the latest Iran – Israel conflict. Viral claim is misleading.
