Israel’s intelligence agency did not label the US Air Force an ‘enemy’ of the Jewish state
Flags and posters of kidnapped people are seen outside of the Israeli Embassy, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in Washington. Social media users are falsely claiming that Israel’s intelligence agency called the U.S. Air Force an “enemy” of the Jewish state after an active-duty airman set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
CLAIM: Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency called the U.S. Air Force an “enemy” of Israel in a post on X after an active-duty member of the military branch set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The account that made the post is not affiliated with Mossad and has previously published erroneous claims about Israel. Mossad’s official X account, to which the agency’s website links, has not posted anything since September 2020.
THE FACTS: After 25-year-old airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy, while declaring he “will not longer be complicit in genocide,” social media users alleged that Mossad had denigrated the U.S. Air Force on X in response.
Many posts shared a screenshot of two posts from an account called “Mossad Commentary.” One includes an image of Bushnell on fire captioned with the widely-used expression, in Hebrew, “Am Yisrael chai,” meaning “the people of Israel live.” The second, made in response to the first, states: “Our enemies kill themselves.”
The first post had been deleted by Monday afternoon, but an archived version shows that it was still up early in the morning. The second post remains live on the platform.
“BREAKING: Mossad labels United States Air Force an ENEMY to the state of @Israel,” reads an X post from a different account that included the screenshot. It had received more than 10,600 likes and shares on Monday.
But Mossad Commentary, which uses Mossad’s logo as its profile picture, is not affiliated with the Israeli intelligence agency and has previously made false claims about the Jewish state. For example, a post from October 2023 states that Yemen had “officially” declared war on Israel. The Associated Press reported at the time that Yemen’s internationally recognized government had done no such thing.
Another post from the account called Bushnell “an idiot” after he set himself on fire.
Mossad’s website links to its official X account, which is called in Hebrew “The Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks.” The most recent post is from September 2020.
The Israeli military said Mossad Commentary is “clearly not an official account” in response to an email query from the AP. Mossad Commentary did not respond to a message from the AP on X.
Bushnell died from his injuries. According to AP reporting, he had walked to the embassy shortly before 1 p.m. on Sunday and began livestreaming on Twitch, a video streaming platform. Law enforcement officials believe he set his phone down and then doused himself in accelerant and ignited the flames.
Israel has adamantly denied genocide allegations and says it is carrying out operations in the Israel-Hamas war in accordance with international law.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
