Footage of Philadelphia plane crash misrepresented as 'Israel after Iranian attack'
"Israel's capital Tel Aviv damaged by Iranian attack," reads the Bengali-language caption of a video shared on Facebook on 025.
The video shows a carpark littered with debris and flickering embers, with larger fires burning in the background.
Image
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on June 16, 2025
The video surfaced after Iran struck Israel with barrages of missiles, a day after a massive onslaught against its nuclear and military facilities killed top generals and nuclear scientists (archived link).
Israel said its attacks on June 13 aimed to prevent its arch-rival from acquiring atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.
The longtime foes have continued trading deadly fire in their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East (archived link).
Iran's health ministry said at least 224 people have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded, while Israel's prime minister's office says at least 24 people have been killed and 592 others injured.
The footage was also shared in similar posts elsewhere on Facebook and YouTube.
While Israeli cities and towns have been hit by Iranian strikes, the video does not show the damage caused by the attacks.
Philadelphia plane crash
Image
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the YouTube video (right)
AFP reported that a twin-engine Learjet 55 had plummeted towards a busy Philadelphia neighbourhood, exploding on impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles (archived link). The jet was carrying a Mexican child home from a hospital in Philadelphia.
Local media reported that all six people on board the plane were killed, as well as a man and a woman who were in separate cars on the ground at the time of the crash (archived link).
AFP geolocated the video to Cottman Avenue and the adjacent Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia (archived link).
Google Street View imagery of the area showed a red-bricked building opposite a coffee shop that matches those seen in the circulating video (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Google Street View imagery (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP
AFP previously fact-checked false claims the same video depicted an Indian airstrike on Pakistan.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AFP
25 minutes ago
- AFP
Baseless posts about India embassy attack misuse old photos
"Shocking news from Kabul: Attack on the Indian Embassy; several officials martyred while serving the nation," reads a Hindi-language X post shared July 7, 2025. "This shameful act violates international diplomatic principles," adds the caption to two pictures that each depict a damaged building. Image Screenshot of the false X post taken July 7, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Similar claims also surfaced on Facebook on the anniversary of the 2008 attack on India's embassy in Afghanistan that killed here). But there have been no official reports of an assault targeting the Indian diplomatic headquarters in Kabul. A combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found the first photo on the archives of The Associated Press (AP) news agency (archived link) "Afghan security forces watch a house burn at the site of a clash between insurgents and security forces at the Indian Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, Friday, May 23, 2014," reads part of its caption. Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the photo from AP The picture was also published in a report from Indian media NDTV about the incident (archived link). The second same image was published in a Reuters report with a caption that says, "Afghan officials inspect outside the German embassy after a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan May 31, 2017" (archived link). The report said a bomb hidden in a sewage tanker exploded in the centre of Kabul, killing at least 80 people and damaging embassy buildings. Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the photo from Reuters Al Jazeera featured the image in a report about the blast (archived link). Other false posts include a third picture also from AP depicting former Indian diplomats inspecting the embassy in Kabul following a car bomb attack in October 2009 (archived here and here) Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the photo from AP
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Forged message to South Korea's president recycles 2019 warning to Turkish leader
"Trump's letter to carried by Ambassador Morse Tan. Its contents are insulting," reads part of a Korean-language post on online forum Naver Band shared on July 17, 2025. The purported letter to Lee, which surfaced after Trump threatened Seoul with 25 percent tariffs unless a trade deal is negotiated by August 1, proposes the leaders work out a "good deal" (archived link). "You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Korean economy -- and I will," the purported letter continues. It adds that "Ambassador Morse Tan" is willing to negotiate, and warns history will brand Lee a "devil" if he failed to act "in the right and humane way." Tan, a former US diplomat turned activist, has previously made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud and falsely accused Lee of having committed serious crimes in his youth (archived link). Image Screenshot of the false Naver Band post captured on July 17, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The supposed missive from Trump was also shared in other right-wing groups on Facebook and Naver Band. "Trump is really pushing Lee into a corner," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "This is payback for imprisoning President Yoon Suk Yeol." But the purported message from Trump to Lee is a fabrication. Letter to Turkish president A reverse image search on Google found the letter was altered from a message Trump sent to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 9, 2019 -- as reported at the time by multiple news outlets, including Politico and New York Times (archived here and here). The original letter was sent as Turkey launched a military offensive in northeast Syria against Kurdish-led forces, who were allied with the United States against ISIS at the time (archived link). The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were in the forefront of the campaign to defeat ISIS, but Erdogan links them to separatist militants within Turkey. In the letter, Trump warned Erdogan not to be "a tough guy" or "a fool" and urged him to negotiate a ceasefire. Archived White House records show the letter and its contents were also brought up during a joint press conference between the two leaders in (archived link). The letter shared in the false posts replaces the original's letterhead and Erdogan's title, and superimposes "Amb. Morse Tan" over the name of a Kurdish general. The final line of the original letter has also been changed so it reads, "I will not call you later." Untouched, however, is a reference to Andrew Brunson -- an American pastor held for two years in Turkey on terror-related charges who became a cause celebre for Trump's conservative Christian base (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the fabricated letter, with altered parts marked by AFP in red (left) and the original message sent to Erdogan from 2019, as published by Politico (right) The letterhead appears to have been lifted from a genuine message Trump sent on July 7 informing Lee that a 25 percent tariff would be placed on South Korean products from August 1. The letter was printed in reports by the Korea Times and News1 (archived here and here). Image Screenshot comparison of the altered letter, with letterhead marked in red by AFP (left), and the genuine message addressed to Lee about tariffs (right) AFP previously debunked similar false posts about a letter Trump purportedly sent to South Korea's disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol.
AFP
9 hours ago
- AFP
Outdated footage of kneeling officers misrepresented as immigration protests
"Here is Omaha PD kneeling for illegal immigrants. Unbelievable," says a July 16, 2025 post on Gettr, a platform catering to American conservatives. Image Screenshot from Gettr taken July 17, 2025 Another post on X adds: "Thank God for ICE and our federal agents." The video shows a line of uniformed police officers kneeling and raising their fists in the air in front of a crowd of protesters, before standing to offer handshakes and hugs. Similar posts spread the same clip in June 2025, as demonstrations against deportation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flared in cities across the country, with Los Angeles taking center stage following Trump's deployment of National Guard and US military troops to the Democratic stronghold. ICE has scaled up deportation efforts under the Republican president, who made expelling undocumented immigrants a key priority for his second White House term. Dramatic images have shown federal agents, often masked and sometimes armed with assault rifles, chasing down migrants at courthouses, farms and on the streets. The video claimed to show Omaha law enforcement taking a knee is old and unrelated to illegal immigration, however. Reverse image searches revealed that the Omaha Police Department shared the footage June 2, 2020 (archived here). At the time, racial justice protesters were rallying across the country following the murder of Floyd, who died at the hands of a white police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officer Michael Pecha, a spokesperson with the Omaha Police Department's public information office, confirmed to AFP that the clip is "from protests in 2020." "We have not had any large-scale protests in Omaha recently," Pecha said in a July 17, 2025 email. Pecha referred AFP to a 2020 civil unrest report, which explained that the department uploaded the footage to debunk online claims that an officer had performed a Nazi salute (archived here). "In an effort to diffuse tensions near 13th and Howard, a group of officers and National Guard members kneeled with the protesters," it reads. The report said the incident took place June 1, 2020. Another video posted to TikTok at the time shows the moment from a different angle (archived here). The act of kneeling has become associated with advocacy against racism and police brutality in the United States, largely inspired by former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began taking a knee during pre-game performances of the US national anthem in 2016. The mischaracterization of the Omaha video comes just over a month after Police Chief Todd Schmaderer warned Nebraskans to look out for misinformation in response to a fake post that purported to show the department advising residents of future ICE raids (archived here, and here). AFP previously debunked social media posts falsely claiming a video of a Los Angeles Police Department officer kneeling had taken place during June 2025 protests against Trump's policies. In reality, the clip was also from 2020. AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about US politics here.
