By Pascal Ibe

Introduction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to make the headlines in the international media and on social media because of his bid to be re-elected as the country’s leader.

Netanyahu, 77, is the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of Israel, having accumulated nearly 19 years in office across multiple non-consecutive tenures (1996–1999, 2009–2021, and returning to power on December 29, 2022).

Netanyahu and his political bloc faced a pivotal general election held on October 27, 2026, amid the backdrop of the Gaza conflict, domestic security debates following October 7, 2023, and his ongoing corruption trials.

Partial vote counts and reporting from outlets like Al Jazeera as of late October 2026 indicate a tightly contested parliament (Knesset), with Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc fighting to secure a governing majority.

Partial results from Israel’s general election show Netanyahu marginally ahead of his rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, but still short of a majority in parliament.

With 99% of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies were on track to win 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Eisenkot’s Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties in his bloc were set for 48.

Both leaders have said they will try to form a governing coalition.

Arab-led parties, which are on course to win an unprecedented 19 seats, could emerge as kingmakers. But all but one of the Jewish parties have pledged not to work with them.

As of Friday morning, 30 October, no new Israeli Prime Minister has been named 

Claim

A video that claims to show Netanyahu being attacked by a gun-wielding man while giving a speech on stage has gone viral on social media, particularly on the X platform.

A commentary account on X, @AmericanTruthke (American TruthKeeper), which posted (archived here) the video on Friday, 30 October, claimed, “Breaking 🚨 A very dangerous attack on Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. It appears he has sustained severe injuries, and an aircraft is being dispatched to transport him to the United States. This is clearly evident from the footage. ”

The video, alongside the claim was shared on X here and here recently.

Verification

FACTWATCH Nigeria took screenshots of the key frames from the video and subjected them to Google Lens in order to ascertain if the video used to depict an attack on Netanyahu was real. We also wanted to know when the clip first emerged online.

Results from Google Lens led us to credible news reports and reputable YouTube channels, which show that it was from 2013 when a gunman attacked the Bulgarian party leader and NOT Israel’s Netanyahu.

BBC reported in January 2013 that a man put a gas pistol to the head of the leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party during a televised conference.

Ahmed Dogan, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), was unharmed, and the unidentified man was wrestled to the ground by security guards.

The incident happened on Saturday at a party congress in the capital Sofia.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the attacker, himself an ethnic Turk, tried to fire two shots but “most likely the gun misfired”.

Early reports suggested the weapon was a gun, but it was later confirmed to be a gas pistol – a non-lethal weapon used largely for self-defence which does not fire bullets but which can cause serious injuries if fired from close range.

The story was also reported by news websites in 2013 here and here.

Verdict

Simple findings indicated that the video of an attack on a Bulgarian party leader in 2013 was recycled recently and used to depict an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, which never happened.

Therefore, the claim is FALSE.