Israel’s embassy in Panama posted a photo of Israelis at the airport heading home to enlist in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), but users on X quickly jumped on strange artifacts and distortions in the image to claim that it was artificially generated.
The image showed over 20 young people waiting for a plane posing in front of an Israeli flag.
Since the new phase in the war in Israel and Palestine began, some Israeli citizens have chosen to return to enlist in the IDF, reported the Associated Press.
“False,” wrote @danyelgphoto in Spanish about the picture, clipping zoomed-in portions of the photo like an oddly bent, smooth ankle, and heavy blurs on some of the people in the photo’s faces.
“This photo wasn’t generated by AI, however it could have been used to make an edit,” wrote @ChePeiretti in Spanish, explaining how it might have been passed through software, like a filter, to “improve” the quality.
Some pointed to an odd head in the background of the image as proof that it was artificially generated.
Other users highlighted the image of one man in a yellow T-shirt who looked particularly distorted, with a curled upper lip and image artifacts that looked like bruises around his eyes as proof that the image was fake.
“He hasn’t arrived at the war yet and he’s already pretty bruised,” commented @pablooceano.
But Israel’s Ambassador in Panama, Itai Bardov, posted a couple of other pictures of the group which appear to be authentic.
“The photo is real and was taken on the 9th of October at 7:24 PM at Tocumen Airport in Panama,” Bardov wrote. “We want to thank the thousands of Israelis in Latin America for hurrying back to Israel to defend their citizens and fight.”
The original post was hit by a Community Note which acknowledged that many people had pointed out distortions in the image and were using these to claim that the image was part of a fake war propaganda push by Israel.
Doctored, recycled, or completely bogus images have circulated all across social media since the new phase in the war in Israel and Palestine began on Saturday, reported the New York Times.
