A 13-year-old satirical blog post about Netanyahu’s ‘psychiatrist’ is being shared as real news
CLAIM: News reports say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s psychiatrist died by suicide.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The claim comes from a 2010 satirical blog post. The author confirmed to The Associated Press that the post was satire.
THE FACTS: Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, many online posts have resurfaced a false claim related to Netanyahu that has been circulating online for more than a decade.
Social media users are sharing a screenshot of a headline that reads: “Israeli Prime Minister’s psychiatrist commits suicide.” These posts have received tens of thousands of likes and shares on Instagram and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The headline was taken from a Pakistani website and is dated Nov. 6, 2023, but the text repeats claims from a similarly-titled 2010 post on a blog called Legalienate.The blog states that it shares news, commentary and satire.
The author of the blog post, Michael K. Smith, confirmed to the AP over email that it was satire.
“The purpose of it was to draw attention to the hopeless insanity of Israeli policy in an entertaining way,” wrote Smith.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.