An image allegedly showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watching a football match has gone viral on social media.

In the image, Netanyahu is seen seated in a stadium wearing an Argentina national team jersey, which has gone viral on social media. The image has match scores on it, thus purportedly shows that Netanyahu is watching the match between Austria and Argentina.

The image is shared with a caption claiming it shows Netanyahu attending the Argentina vs. Austria World Cup match while wearing an Argentina jersey.

The image is shared with a caption that reads, “Publication, Netanyahu attended the Argentina vs. Austria match, cheering for Argentina”

SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The image is AI-generated.

On observing the image, we found several visual inconsistencies suggesting that it is AI-generated. For instance, the text and logos are unclear.

Analysis of the video

Both the Argentina jersey that Netanyahu is supposedly wearing and the Austrian jersey of the man behind him, the lettering is illegible and does not correspond to either the official kit of the Argentine national team or the Austrian national team. Moreover, the facial features of the individuals in the image also appear rigid and unnatural. Even the text on the lanyard is unclear. All of the signs suggest that the image is AI-generated.

We further checked it with the AI-image detection tool, Hive Moderation and found that the viral image is likely AI-generated with 52.9 per cent AI-generation.

Argentina secured a place in the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup after a 2-0 win over Austria on June 22, 2026, during the Group J stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In the second round of Group 10 matches, Lionel Messi scored both goals in the 38th and 95th minutes. The win lifted Argentina to six points, securing qualification for the next round.

Moreover, we found no reports of Netanyahu attending the FIFA World Cup.

Hence, we can ascertain that the viral image is AI-generated.