By: Umme Kulsum
October 25 2023
The image showing people cheering for the Israeli army is AI-generated
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Screenshots of social media posts sharing image that shows people cheering and supporting the Israeli army as they march the streets. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Fake
This is an artificial intelligence-generated image and does not show a real event.
What’s the claim
A photograph of people standing on balconies with Israeli flags and cheering for the Israeli army has been widely shared on social media in light of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. One user shared the image on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “United Israel.” The post had over 1,366 views. An archive version of the post can be found here.
The same image was also shared on Instagram (archive here) captioned, “Am Israel chai 🇮🇱 bring our family home.”
Screenshot of claims made online (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the image has been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
What we found
The image contains numerous elements that indicate it is AI-generated. Close inspection of people on the balcony revealed that many of the people had clubbed or elongated hands. Elsewhere in the image, a woman can be seen standing on the edge of the balcony, which is too blurred to make out anything other than her torso. People in the viral image can also be seen distorted and overlapping with each other.
(Source: X/Altered by Logically Facts)
Throughout the image, people can be seen standing outside the grills in a deformed shape, and many have missing features, such as hands and heads.
(Source: X/Altered by Logically Facts)
People's limbs are elongated and tangled with each other. Many of the figures seen in the viral image do not have clear features.
(Source: X/Altered by Logically Facts)
A digital signature in the bottom-left corner of the image reads "Omri Shefi." A Google search for this name let us to Omar Shefi's Facebook account, which had posted the viral image along with several others. The post's caption, written in Hebrew, clarifies that “The images were created using artificial intelligence (translated to English).”
Logically Facts has contacted Omri Shefi and will update this story if we receive a response.
Logically Facts has written about how to identify AI-generated images using visual cues and other tools. You can read it here.
The verdict
The image is AI-generated, as confirmed by Omri Shefi, who originally posted it. Therefore, we have marked this image as fake.