15 hours ago
Video of Trump condemning Israeli strikes on Gaza uses fabricated audio
"Trump finally spoke up about Israel," reads the English and Tagalog-language caption of a Facebook reel shared on June 21, 2025.
It features the US president purportedly saying: "Israel, listen carefully. You are responsible for over 55,000 people getting wiped out in Gaza and now you are talking about peace? You must be joking".
The post has amassed at least two million views and has been reposted by other Facebook users.
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Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on June 24, 2025 with a red X mark added by AFP
Trump said on June 24 that a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was holding, minutes after he criticised both countries for violating the truce he had announced (archived link).
Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 610 civilians during the 12-day war between the arch-foes, Iran's health ministry said, while 28 people were killed in Israel in strikes across the country (archived link).
Even as attention has shifted to the war with Iran since June 13,
Comments on the video suggest the users were misled.
"He is changing sides now," one user commented.
"I thought you were attacking Iran. You're on Israel's side," another user said.
But the circulating clip's audio had been doctored.
US election debate
Google reverse image searches led to a longer video of the third presidential debate in 2016 between Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that US broadcaster NBC News streamed on October 20, 2016 (archived link).
Visual elements from the YouTube video -- such as the blue background, Trump's black suit and red tie -- matched the circulating false posts.
In the original clip, Clinton asked Trump whether he was willing to "admit and condemn" the alleged Russian involvement in the US elections, to which he called her out for "a great pivot of the fact that she wants open borders".
Trump also said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has no respect" for Clinton.
The continuation of his answer at the 27:47 mark was used in the false posts, where he can be seen making the same hand gesture.
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Screenshot comparison of the false Facebook post with a red X mark added by AFP (L) and the NBC News video
Trump did not criticise Israel during the debate (archived link).
An analysis using the voice cloning detection tool Hiya in The Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify, shows the video's audio was "very likely AI-generated".
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Screenshot of the audio analysis from Hiya in The Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify, taken on June 24, 2025
AFP has debunked a slew of online misinformation about the Iran-Israel war.
