Edited image shared to claim billboard displayed 'Ceasefires are anti-Semitic' message

What’s the claim?

Amid global appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza, an image of two billboards has gained a lot of traction on social media. Both billboards carried an image of the Israeli flag and while the statement on the first one read, “Be Humans. Stand for Israel,” the second one purportedly said, “Ceasefires are anti-Semitic.” The latter statement has evoked a lot of reactions online. 

One user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the viral image of the billboards with the caption, “Wanting to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians is anti-semitic.” The post had gained over 2.2 million views at the time of publishing. Another post was captioned, “Israel may have access to a lot of money in the US. Huge advertisements outside a building. But all the money in the world cannot convince me that ceasefires are antisemitic.” Archived versions of such posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, Logically Facts found that the message saying “Ceasefires are anti-Semitic” on the second billboard has been digitally added to the original image.

What did we find?

A reverse image search on the viral image led us to several social media posts from mid-October 2023 carrying the same photo. We found that the second billboard did not carry the phrase “Ceasefire is anti-Semitic.” Instead, it mirrored the same statement from the first billboard which read, “Be Human. Stand for Israel.”

The original image, a slightly zoomed-out version of the viral photo, was shared by the Consulate General of Israel in New York on their official Facebook and X handles on October 20, 2023. Here, both billboards carried the message, “Be Human. Stand for Israel.”

According to the Facebook post by the Consulate General of Israel in New York, the picture was taken during a demonstration in New York City's Times Square held on October 20, 2023. As per a report by Reuters, after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the militant group had held some 200 Israelis hostages. Following this, a protest at Times Square was organized by the nonprofit Israeli American Council, which represents Israeli Americans in the U.S. to demand the release of hostages.

Israeli American Council's official Facebook page had also uploaded a photo of the two billboards on October 20, 2023. This photo was taken from a slightly different angle but the controversial text was notably absent from both the billboards. The post sharing the photo also featured various other images from the demonstration, showcasing ads reportedly portraying the faces of hostages taken by Hamas.

Comparison of the viral image and the original image. (Source: X/@IsraelinNewYork)

The billboard image shared by the Consulate General of Israel in New York also showed a woman on stage speaking into a microphone while a male musician accompanied her. Further investigation led us to identify the woman as Israeli singer Shiri Maimon. Mainom had shared a video on her Instagram account on October 20, 2023, featuring the same billboard with the message, “Be Human. Stand for Israel.” 

Screenshot of visual from the video shared by Israeli singer Shiri Maimon . (Source: Instagram/@shirimaimon1)

The verdict

An altered image is being shared online to suggest that a billboard in the United States displayed the message "Ceasefires are anti-Semitic." The original message on the billboard had the text, 'Be Human. Stand for Israel.' Therefore, we mark this as fake.