Viral image
Viral image
stated on May 22, 2021 in a Facebook post:

Video shows “Israel’s defense system.”

False

This is not a video of Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’

If your time is short

  • The clip shows footage of a video game, not Israel’s defense system. 
 
See the sources for this fact-check

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has intercepted rockets from Gaza but a video clip that’s being shared on social media does not show the technology in action. 

Gunfire rumbles in the clip that was posted on Facebook on May 22 with this title: “OMG!!! Israel’s defense system.” 

Some social media users were rightly not convinced. 

“Video game,” one person wrote. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The clip is from a video game called Arma 3

A longer clip of the game was posted on YouTube on Jan. 24 and described as a simulation of shooting down a hostile jet. 

On May 14, someone posted a shorter clip of the video and wrote that it was a “created simulation” in Arma 3. 

“The graphics of Arma are very good, it almost looks like real life,” the post says. 

The public relations manager for Bohemia Interactive, the company that makes the game, told Lead Stories that the footage in the post is an altered version of the company’s game. 

We rate claims that it shows Israel’s defense system False.

 
Our Sources

Facebook post, May 22, 2021

The Washington Post, Here’s how rockets from Gaza test Israel’s Iron Dome, May 12, 2021

YouTube post, Jan. 24, 2021

YouTube post, May 14, 2021

Lead Stories, Fact Check: This video is NOT footage of Israeli defense system, May 24, 2021