By: Siri Christiansen
October 4 2024
No credible media institutions have reported about the alleged incident, and Netanyahu has appeared in videos with other people following the event.
The claim
On September 28, Yemen's Houthi militants announced it had fired a ballistic missile toward Israel's Ben Gurion Airport as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plane was arriving from the U.S.
Shortly after, social media users reported that Ben Gurion Airport had been hit by the missile, with many suggesting the Israeli Prime Minister had sustained a severe head injury as a result.
Source: X/TikTok screenshots (archived here, here, here)/Modified by Logically Facts
"Still no sign of life from Netanyahu," reads a TikTok video with over 181,000 views. Another TikTok video (archived here), citing "severe concern" among Israeli leaders speaking to ABC News following Netanyahu's injury, gained over 97,000 views in 20 hours.
Several users criticized the media for silencing information about the potential assassination.
"This is confirmation something big happened that is being suppressed. If there was no harm, why no statement?" asked one X user in a post with over 76,000 views.
However, the missile was intercepted before it reached the airport, resulting in little media coverage.
What we found
The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu's plane landed in Israel 35 minutes before sirens were heard in central Israel and Jerusalem as a result of Yemen's missile. The missile was intercepted, and parts of it landed near the Jerusalem suburb of Tzur Hadassah.
Reuters, citing the Israeli military, also reported that the missile was intercepted.
While one viral TikTok video claimed that ABC News had reported about the incident, Logically Facts could not find any news coverage from ABC News or any credible news outlet confirming the claim.
According to the independent flight tracker website FlightStats, air traffic was operating normally on September 28 (archived here), the day of the alleged strike. Ben Gurion's official airport website also does not report any explosion or severe delays. Had there been an explosion, air traffic is likely to have been impacted.
Netanyahu has also appeared on camera after September 28, most notably to comment on Iran's missile attack on Israel on October 1. In the video, which was posted on X, Netanyahu does not appear to have any head injury.
The verdict
The claim that Netanyahu has been injured in a missile attack on the Ben Gurion Airport is unsubstantiated, as no credible media institutions have reported on it and Netanyahu has appeared on camera after the alleged event took place. Therefore, we have rated the claim as false.
The Israel Defense Forces has been contacted for a comment.