Video does not show 'Israeli air force defection' in war with Iran

Before a ceasefire halted 12 days of war between Iran and Israel in June, a video of a group of people in uniform walking down a street surfaced in posts falsely claiming it shows Israeli air force members "quitting" to protest the fighting. In fact, the footage was first shared online in November 2024 and shows Israeli police on their way to put out bonfires during a demonstration in Tel Aviv.

"Israel air force had quit and left their fighter planes to save the life of both countries / Good decision, soldiers!" reads Tagalog-language sticker text on a Facebook reel shared on June 20.

It shows a group of men and women in uniform walking along a road with sirens and horns heard in the background.

Several other Facebook posts peddled the same claim, while another version claims the video shows the Iranian army "walking out" from the war.

Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on June 13 after a decades-long shadow war, saying it aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied -- and degrade its ballistic missile arsenal (archived link). 

Following a US-announced ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prevent Iran from ever rebuilding its nuclear facilities, raising the prospect of further conflict.

At least 1,060 people were killed in Iran during the conflict, according to Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs (archived link). The Israeli attacks drew waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel, according to authorities. 

However, the circulating clip was shared months before the war and shows an unrelated event.

Tel Aviv protest

Google reverse image searches of the video's keyframes led to an X post by Israeli journalist Bar Peleg on November 6, 2024 (archived here and here).

The Hebrew-language description states border police officers at the Ayalon highway were moving to extinguish bonfires during a protest.

At the clip's five-second mark, a woman in uniform can be seen holding a fire extinguisher.

Peleg shared another similar clip minutes later, saying the police were not attempting to clear protesters on the road (archived link).

AFP published footage from a protest in Tel Aviv against the sacking of defence minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, which shows demonstrators had set fires along a stretch of the Ayalon highway in the city (archived link).

The 2022 Google Maps Street View of a portion of the Ayalon highway shows the same skyscraper named "Electra" on the left side of the highway (archived link).

Other identical features from the falsely shared video include the bridge's V-shaped vertical support and the mid-rise buildings at the background (archived link).

AFP has debunked several other clips falsely linked to the Iran-Israel war here.