Amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, a video has spread across social media claiming that an Israeli soldier is urging Iran to halt its attacks. In the video, the soldier is seen standing among rubble, crying emotionally. Holding a microphone, he says in English: “Iran, we are requesting you. Please stop the attack. Half of Israel is destroyed. We are surrendering. Just stop this devastation.” The logo of Bangladesh’s private television channel, Somoy TV, is also visible in a corner of the video.
See the Facebook posts circulating this claim: here, here, here, here.
See the YouTube posts spreading the same claim: here, here, here.
See the claim shared on Instagram: here.
Fact Check
Rumor Scanner team’s investigation found that the viral video claiming an Israeli soldier is pleading with Iran to stop the attack is not real; it has been created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
At the start of the investigation, based on the Somoy TV logo visible in the video, the team searched the channel’s official Facebook page and YouTube channel. However, there was no evidence of such a video being aired there.
Further investigation revealed an enhanced version of the same video was posted on May 14 by a TikTok profile named Jax Teller Motivation. Although many users commented that the video was AI-generated, the uploader did not refute the claims and simply responded with a heart emoji.
In addition, in the bottom-right corner of the high-quality version shared by this profile, there is a watermark reading “Veo”. Investigation revealed that Veo is an advanced AI tool developed by Google, which can generate realistic 8-second videos from text prompts. Videos made using this tool typically contain the “Veo” watermark. This video also contains the “Veo” watermark and is 8 seconds long.
Rumor Scanner team’s observations detected several AI-related inconsistencies in the video. The soldier’s facial expressions and crying are exaggerated, the facial texture is unrealistic, and the background smoke and fire resemble computer graphics. The microphone in the soldier’s hand appears new and undamaged, which is inconsistent with a battlefield environment.
For further confirmation, the video was tested on the AI content detection platform Hive Moderation, which indicated a 99% probability that the video was AI-generated.
Furthermore, if such a video were real, it would have been widely reported by international media. However, no credible sources have confirmed the existence of this video.
Conclusion
A video created with AI is being falsely spread as footage of an Israeli soldier pleading with Iran to stop the attacks, which is entirely false.
Sources
- Rumor Scanner’s analysis
- Hive Moderation
