A deepfake video showing celebrity model Bella Hadid stating her support for Israel is being falsely shared on social media as real.
BOOM found that the video is originally from 2016, and shows Hadid speak about her challenges growing up with Lyme disease. It has been manipulated using artificial intelligence to purportedly show her stating her support for Israel.
Weeks into the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has claimed over 1,400 Israeli lives, and has devastated the Gaza strip, claiming the lives of over 8,000 Palestinians, Hadid - who is half-Palestinian by descent - penned a note on Instagram stating her support for Palestinians in Gaza. The post is being shared in this backdrop.
In the 28-second-long clip, Hadid is heard saying, "It's Bella Hadid. On October 7 2023, Israel faced a tragic attack by Hamas. I can't stay silent. I apologize for my past remarks. This strategy has opened my eyes to the pain endured here and I stand with Israel against terror. I've taken time to truly learn the historical context. Now with a clear understanding, I hope we can engage in constructive dialogue moving forward. Thank you."
X (formerly Twitter) user Danel Ben Namer shared the video on the platform with the caption, "Bella Hadid stands with Israel. Sinwar didn’t expect to get this surprise for his 61 birthday 🎈🎂 #WeFixedItForBella"
We also found this clip being shared on Facebook.
Fact Check
Observing the video closely, BOOM found that the Hadid's lip movement in the video is not consistent with the words she spoke - with some of the words clearly not matching her lip movements.
Looking through the replies to Namer's tweet, we found several users stating that the video has been manipulated using artificial intelligence.
After "Community Notes" on X highlighted that the video was manipulated, Namer posted another tweet in Hebrew, which translates to English as, "Another particularly successful project by Yishai Raziel."
BOOM searched for "Yishai Raziel" on Google, which led us to an Instagram account belonging to a user with the same name. The user's bio states, "Musician. Sound Designer. VO Artist."
The account had posted the exact same video on October 29, 2023, with the caption, "Hi @bellahadid we fixed it for you."
We found the user posting other videos that have been manipulated with artificial intelligence. In one of the edited videos showing Egyptian presenter Basma Wahba showing her support for Israel, the user mentions, "And here is the reaction of the Egyptian when she hears herself speaking the truth finally, with the help of AI."
BOOM did a reverse image search of Hadid's video, which led us to a similar YouTube video, posted by the channel Global Lyme Alliance.
We compared the YouTube video with the viral clip, and found that Hadid's attire and hairstyle, along with the background, matched exactly. In the YouTube video, which was taken during Hadid's speech at 2016 Global Lyme Alliance New York Gala, Hadid speaks about the challenges of growing up with Lyme disease.
BOOM heard the entire speech, and could not find any mention of Israel or Palestine.
This suggests that the video was extracted, and manipulated using artificial intelligence, to create the deepfake footage of Hadid expressing her support for Israel.
