Steve Williams 
A THAAD missile defense system
In what has become a worrying trend, old videos are now being recycled and being passed off as new/recent. This phenomenon has been more pronounced in Israel where an active conflict is ongoing as of October 2024.
On Oct 13th 2024, the US government said they had “authorized the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of U.S. military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1.”
As usual, such announcement generated a lot of fanfare as people scrambled to put forward their ideas on what they think about the deployment.
Some commentators took it upon themselves to spread misinformation which is dangerous since it is misleading in a highly charged situation like an ongoing conflict.
In one of the post shared by an X account named Sprinter family, he captions a video as “Netanyahu visits US THAAD air defense system”.
Netanyahu visits US THAAD air defense system pic.twitter.com/NiWSDhCEyO
— S p r i n t e r (@SprinterFamily) October 16, 2024
Immediately, the comments were awash with all kinds of opinions, some of which were outright antisemitic and gained traction among several accounts who proceeded to share the video.
Update: US troops and American air defenses are now fully deployed in Israel ready for the coming war with Iran!! pic.twitter.com/mfg8vjVrIy
— US Civil Defense News (@CaptCoronado) October 16, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visits the site where its new US THAAD air defence system is deployed. pic.twitter.com/5VlJjbt343
— OM News World (@OMNewsWorld) October 17, 2024
JUST IN: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visits deployment site of its new US THAAD air defense system. pic.twitter.com/JaOodmdepk
— News Of The Globe (@NewsOfEarthTr) October 17, 2024
US troops meet with Netanyahu as he visits the deployment site of the arriving Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which was recently deployed to bolster Israel’s air defenses for a potential war with Iran. pic.twitter.com/KtSfoYpT2y
— Beyond Headlines (@Headline_Beyond) October 17, 2024
JUST IN: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visits deployment site of its new US THAAD air defense system. pic.twitter.com/Bu3GQxGcnC
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) October 17, 2024
Some even questioned the legality of such move in line with US laws.
Congress never authorized sending US troops into imminent hostilities in Israel.
This is a violation of the Constitution and War Powers Act of 1973. https://t.co/6wCHk5ci9A
— Just Foreign Policy (@justfp) October 17, 2024
THE FACTS
The video in question is from 2019 during the Trump administration. This is evidenced by the fact that the US Ambassador to Israel at that time, David Friedman is seen in the video. The current US Ambassador to Israel as of October 2024 is Jack Lew who is serving under the Biden’s administration.
This article from 2022, shows an inset photo that shows a snippet from the video and correctly identifying it as from 2019.
Fortunately enough, some Twitter accounts were able to document the “real” 2019 event and we were able to locate some of the tweets from that period.
Israel’s Elections Committee prohibited Netanyahu from appearing in pictures with “soldiers” during the election… but no one mentioned AMERICAN soldiers, so here we are, with Amb. Friedman doing his friend a solid today as they visit THAAD. pic.twitter.com/YxV7jHnHFO
— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) March 6, 2019
Israeli PM @netanyahu and @USAmbIsrael visit the American THAAD system and @US_EUCOM soldiers that have arrived to Israel few days ago, for a joint rapid deployment drill. The THAAD system would be helpful in case of a potential Iranian strike along with Israeli missile defense pic.twitter.com/uttPpBMH2B
— Yonat Friling (Frühling) (@FrilingYonat) March 6, 2019
Netanyahu and Friedman visit THAAD system deployment site: The system arrived in Israel on Tuesday along with some 200 troops from US European Command (EUCOM) for a month-long drill between the two allies. https://t.co/omaBSKzOPE JPost pic.twitter.com/hTOcMTLFHY
— Jewish Community (@JComm_NewsFeeds) March 6, 2019
A random account accurately identifies the video as “old” since it is able to identify what it says it is it’s ex-husband in the shared clip.
Uhh this video is from years ago, there’s no way this is how I see my ex husband again his ass cheesing in that video https://t.co/JBiiJk0ADB
— sam (@samshoots710) October 18, 2024
Another account also corroborates that the video is indeed from 2019
This video is from March 2019, under the previous administration because the former U.S. ambassador is seen here, three weeks before the U.S. recognized Israeli sovereignty over Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, not amid current escalations.
Please verify things before sharing. https://t.co/a8RuJWYQRt
— Mohammed Khader (@MohammedKhaderr) October 17, 2024
The original video where the short clip is yanked off from can be traced to several official government accounts which list the date as March 6th 2019. This clearly and conclusively prove that the video is indeed not as recent as some commentators want us to believe.
As usual verify the source before sharing to avoid spreading misinformation. Stay vigilant and do your own research first before believing anything you see on the internet.
