Chaos on the Streets? Viral Video Falsely Linked to Anti-Netanyahu Protests

Amid the ongoing Iran war, an old video is being recirculated online as proof of anti-Netanyahu protests in Israel. However, the footage actually shows a February incident involving Ultra-Orthodox men chasing two Israeli military officers.

As the war on Iran enters its tenth day, the parallel disinformation campaign has not died down on social media. Across platforms, old videos and manipulated ones are still making the rounds, claiming to be related to the ongoing conflict. One such old, unrelated video is circulating with the claim that it shows a protest against Netanyahu amid the ongoing conflict. OBC tracks the truth behind the claim.

What is the viral claim?

On March 6, a verified X (formerly Twitter) account called “Richard” posted a video showing visible chaos on a street. It was captioned: “While Donald Trump urges Iranians to overthrow their own government, people in Israel are already in the streets, trying to overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu’s government… 😂😂😂😂.”

The post had garnered over 1.4 million views as of March 9, along with 69,000 likes and 18,000 reposts. 

One of the 1,300 comments read: “This news is suppressed by pro-Israeli news media networks, which show that instead of Netanyahu, Trump and Western leaders succeeding in overthrowing the Iranian government, Netanyahu and his genocidal regime run the risk of being overthrown by Israelis opposing them.”

Other comments echoed similar sentiments, with users writing that “Netanyahu and his extremist government is the main cause of all the trouble in the Middle East.” Several users also tagged Grok, seeking to verify the authenticity of the claim.

The same video has also been shared by a verified account called “Iran Now,” which has over 92,000 followers. It describes itself as “Urgent and reliable coverage of the most important Iranian and world events.”

What our verification shows

A reverse image search led us to an Instagram reel posted on February 16 by the handle TRT World. The reel describes the footage as showing ultra-Orthodox Jews clashing with Israeli police on 15 February in Bnei Brak, Israel.

Further investigation led us to several news reports showing that the video is not related to the ongoing conflict.These reports also identify the protesters as members of Orthodox Jewish groups. The visuals do not exactly show a protest scene; instead, they show two women running through the streets, surrounded by guards, as a mob of screaming men dressed in black and white chase after them.

According to a Middle East Eye report dated February 15, the men are Ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as the Haredim. The incident took place in the city of Bnei Brak in Israel. The Times of Israel reported that the women were Israeli squad commanders at the education and youth corps who were on an official home visit when they were attacked. Police arrested 23 members of the mob, The Times of Israel reported, citing the Tel Aviv District chief, who spoke about an hour after the riots broke out.

On the same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the attack. Several Israeli politicians and journalists followed with condemnations of their own.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement that the attackers do not represent the “vast majority of the Haredi public.”

This leads to the conclusion that the viral claim accompanying the circulating video—that people in Israel are on the streets trying to overthrow Netanyahu’s government—is false. The video is about a month old and is related to an incident involving Ultra-Orthodox men chasing two Israeli military officers during a home visit, not protests linked to the ongoing conflict.