Video showing crowds in smoke with Israeli flags predates Iran attack

Iran’s attack on Israel in April 2024 birthed a flurry of false claims. Among them are several posts claiming that a video showed Israelis panicking on the streets of Tel Aviv in the wake of the strikes. But the claim is false: AFP Fact Check found that the footage was taken during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv and had been online a week before the Iranian assault.

“This is the current situation of the Yahudawa (the Jews) after the attacks from Iran,” reads a post written in Hausa, published on Instagram on April 15, 2024.

The post received more than 59,000 likes and over 3,000 comments.

The accompanying video features a text overlay reading “Tel Aviv tonight” and shows people holding Israeli flags, with some covering their noses with their shirts to avoid breathing in smoke. In the background, we can hear the sounds of sirens.

We can also hear the crowd blowing trumpets and chanting “ahshav,” the Hebrew word for “now”.

The account that shared the video is called “NorthernViralTV” and has around 36,000 followers. It has a history of sharing pro-Islam content in Hausa, the language predominantly spoken in northern Nigeria.

The misleading clip was also shared on Instagram (here and here), X (here and here), Facebook (here) and TikTok (here, here and here).

Iran’s attack on Israel

Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel on April 13, 2024, in retaliation for a deadly air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 (archived here).

Iran’s assault — carried out with more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles — heightened tensions in the conflict-prone Middle East region, with Israel retaliating days later (archived here).

However, the video in the claim does not show the aftermath of Iran’s attack.

Protest against Netanyahu’s government

AFP Fact Check traced the origin of the video to a TikTok account called “@archived313” whose handle can be seen in the clip.

The TikTok account had already posted the same footage on April 7, 2024 — a week before Iran's attack on Israel.

Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the video and conducted reverse image searches.

We found that the video was published elsewhere the same day it was shared on the TikTok account.

A version without the “Tel Aviv Tonight” overlay was posted on a Russian Telegram channel on April 7, with an accompanying message reading “anti-government protest in Tel Aviv”. 

The channel also posted other videos of protesters holding Israeli flags and posters critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

AFP reported on April 6, 2024, that tens of thousands of people protested at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza reached its half-year mark (archived here).

A keyword search for "Democracy Square Tel Aviv" on Google Maps led to this location.

Visual clues from the map show that the video in the claim was taken at the same location.

For instance, a high-rise building with the logos of Deloitte and McDonald's can be seen on Google Maps. The two logos are also visible 10 seconds into the video in the claim.

Anti-government protest

On April 6, protesters called for Netanyahu’s resignation and pressured his government to strike a deal with Hamas for the release of Israelis still held hostage in Gaza after the October 7 attack.

More than 34,100 people have been killed in the territory during more than six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on April 23 (archived here).