World War II animation misrepresented as Iranian strikes on Israel
In the aftermath of Iran's unprecedented April 13, 2024 drone and missile assault on Israel, social media posts claim a video shows the bombardment. This is false; the clip being circulated -- accompanied by speculative comments that full-blown war is imminent -- is from a World War II animation that dates back to 2021.
"MARK THIS TWEET IN HISTORY WW3 HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED," says an April 13 X post by far-right internet user Matt Wallace, who previously shared disinformation that AFP debunked. It includes a video of a night sky lit up from blasts.
An April 14, 2024 X post also links the video to the attack, saying: "Israel-Iran tensions are at a boiling point. The world watches nervously as the specter of World War III looms. Who are you supporting in this war?"
Similar posts sharing the video appeared elsewhere on X and on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok including in Spanish and Arabic.
World powers have called for restraint following Iran's attack, which has exacerbated tensions in the Middle East, more than six months into Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
Hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles -- almost all of which were intercepted, according to Israeli officials -- came in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on April 1 on Iran's Damascus embassy consular annex in Syria, killing 16.
Residents of Jerusalem took cover as blasts rang out and explosions lit up the sky. But the clip spreading online does not capture those events.
A reverse image search uncovered the same footage in a YouTube video (archived here) shared by the creator Borisao Blois on October 29, 2021, titled in Spanish: "Do you want to know how it felt to be in the SECOND WORLD WAR?"
"The animation was created by me using Blender," the creator said in Spanish in an April 22, 2024 email. Blender is an open source suite of software for creating 3D animations.
"This is a tiny compilation of my animations belonging to the WW2 or World War II section," says the user's description of the longer video which includes various other animations featuring World War II-style fighter planes.
The creator also shared a longer version of the clip on Instagram (archived here), signaling in the caption that the video was made using computer-generated imagery (CGI).
It can also be found on TikTok (archived here), where the same user's bio translates to, "I create 3D ANIMATIONS," and the page features various other CGI renderings of war scenes (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict here.
April 22, 2024 This story was updated to include a comment from the artist.
