FACT CHECK: Image Of Indonesian Woman Supporting Israel Is AI-Generated

A viral image shared on X purports to show a group of Indonesian women supporting Israel.

Muslims in Indonesia STAND WITH ISRAEL. 🇮🇱🇮🇩

I hope to visit Nusantara, Indonesia’s new planned capital, one day. We were never meant to be enemies. pic.twitter.com/xB3B3PL9D9

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) June 21, 2024

Verdict: False

The claim is false. On June 26, Misbar reported the image was generated with artificial intelligence (AI). A media forensics and AI expert denied the image’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel “[does] not want war” with Lebanon but is “preparing for every scenario,” according to German outlet Deustche Welle. Gallant made the remark during a visit to the U.S., the outlet reported.

The X image, viewed over two million times, shows a group of Indonesian women supporting Israel. In the image, the six women can be seen joining hands and forming the Star of David. “Muslims in Indonesia STAND WITH ISRAEL,” the image’s caption reads in part.

The claim is false. On June 26, Misbar reported the image was generated with AI. “The image contains several telltale signs of AI generation, such as the improper depiction of the women’s hands, with fingers blending together and fingers sticking out of palm,” the outlet indicated.

Check Your Fact performed a content detection scan using the website, “Hive Moderation.” The results of the scan indicate the image is “not likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.” However, according to Business Insider, AI image detectors can be tricked if texture, or grain, is added to an image. The likelihood that the image detectors will accurately identify the image as AI decreases from “99% to just 3.3%,” also according to the outlet.

Likewise, Check Your Fact did not find the image referenced in any recent credible news reports about Israel or its current conflict with Hamas. (RELATED: Facebook Post Claims There Were Hostages At California State University Protest)

Dr. Walter Scheirer, a media forensics and AI expert at the University of Notre Dame, denied the image’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

“This image was likely created using a generative AI algorithm. It is very poorly rendered, with the hands of the women looking highly unnatural (a characteristic artifact of generative AI), and the clothing blurred in localized regions (something that would not happen in a real photograph),” Scheirer said.