At the end of July 2024, media and Telegram channels reported that the US presidential candidate refused to shake hands with the Israeli Prime Minister during their recent meeting. We decided to check if this is true.
The fact that Trump allegedly pointedly ignored the hand of the Israeli prime minister extended for a handshake was written “Moskovsky Komsomolets", Pravda.ru, Sputnik, "Constantinople» and other media and information portals. Most of these publications were based on posts in Telegram channels of Russian political scientists, for example Sergei Markov (33,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) and German Klintsevich (17,000). Other popular channels also wrote about this: “Solovyov"(244,000), "Russia now"(224,000), "Putin on Telegram"(194,000), "Truthfulness"(188,000), "Uncle Slava"(185,000), etc. The news was also actively discussed by social network users ("VKontakte", X, Facebook) And blogging platforms. Most of the publications are accompanied by a short video filmed at the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu: at the end, they stand up, the Israeli prime minister makes a certain hand gesture towards his counterpart, but the former American president simply leaves the frame.
July 22, 2024 Netanyahu went on an official visit to the United States, where in the following days he met with the President Joe Biden, vice president Kamala Harris, entrepreneur Elon Musk and relatives of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas militants in October. Also Israeli Prime Minister spoke before both houses of Congress.
After this, on July 26, Netanyahu met with Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida). Politicians discussed the military conflict in the Gaza Strip and US mediation on a possible ceasefire and the release of hostages.
The meeting was public and was attended by journalists, many of whom were filming. In the footage published by the news agency Associated Press, it is clear that Trump received Netanyahu very cordially and not only shook his hand, but also hugged him. Later in the meeting, he again shook hands with the Israeli prime minister. Similar footage was broadcast by other American media, such as ABC, The Wall Street Journal And CBS. The Sky News logo is visible on the video distributed on Telegram channels, but it was not possible to find such a broadcast or video recording made at a recent meeting in Mar-a-Lago on the channel’s website or social networks.
Moreover, in a viral video where Trump allegedly refuses to shake Netanyahu's hand, the politicians look different. Thus, the tie of the American politician in one recording is red and white, and in the other it is blue with white stripes. In turn, in the Associated Press video, badges are pinned to the lapels of the Israeli prime minister’s jacket, which are not seen in the viral footage.
Fact checkers from AFP using reverse image search installedthat the footage circulated on Telegram was cut from the broadcast of a meeting of politicians in May 2017, held as part of visit Trump (then US President) to Israel. Then Sky News actually published video clip, from which it can be seen that at the end of the open part of the negotiations, Trump gets up and moves away from Netanyahu, but a second later returns and shakes his hand. The cameraman even filmed the handshake in close-up, but this moment was cut off in the video being distributed. At the same time, on more complete broadcasts visiblethat right before the cut (before rising to his feet), Trump had already shaken Netanyahu's hand.
The earliest Russian-language publication of a video in the context of the events of 2024, which “Verified” was able to find, is a post in the Telegram channel “Snow avalanche", posted on July 26 at 00:02 Moscow time. In Florida at that moment it was still July 25, that is, the meeting itself, at which Trump allegedly did not shake Netanyahu’s hand, had not yet taken place. Many commentators under the “Snow Avalanche” post point to this. Although the author of the channel does not claim that the meeting took place on that very day, some of the language used hints at this - for example, Trump in the publication is called “walked through fire” (probably meaning unsuccessful attempt to politics in mid-July). Around 11:00 Moscow time, several more channels (including Popcake.TV, Olga_Styfler, "Rupost", "Kedmi's thoughts" And "Putin on Telegram") almost simultaneously they posted the same video with the same comment: “Donald Trump did not shake hands with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at a public event. The internet exploded after that." It was about 4 a.m. in Florida at the time, and the politicians were still about to meet. Although the posts did not indicate that they were talking specifically about the negotiations at Mar-a-Lago, many Internet users later thought about them. By the way, in the same channel “Snow Avalanche” a little less than a day later there was posted and a current video from the meeting of politicians on July 26 - with the comment “Trump and Netanyahu are friends forever.”
Thus, the footage being circulated was filmed seven years before the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, which is referred to in social media posts. In addition, the 2017 video was also deliberately cropped to make it appear as if Trump ignored Netanyahu's extended hand to shake hands and simply left the meeting.
Cover photo: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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