Claim: Visuals show a physical altercation in March 2026 between Israelis fleeing the country and staff at the Ben Gurion Airport amid the war with Iran.
Fact: The visuals are old and unrelated. They are actually screenshots from a 2025 video showing a physical altercation between young Israelis and cinema staff.
On 13 March 2026, Geo News, a major Pakistani news outlet, ran (archive) a bulletin claiming there was chaos at the Ben Gurion Airport after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel that led people to try and flee the country.
Amid this mayhem, a scuffle erupted between the Israelis and the airport employees, with both groups attacking the other with whatever they had, the channel claimed.
As pictures were broadcast, one of the anchors said, “You can see the visuals on the television screens right now showing people panicking at the Ben Gurion Airport in Israel’s capital.” The updates were attributed to different reports, including the Iranian media.
The bulletin was accompanied by the following caption:
“ایرانی حملے سے بچنے کیلئے اسرائیلی دار الحکومت میں واقع بن گورین ایئر پورٹ پر افراتفری مچ گئی
[Chaos erupts at the Ben Gurion Airport in the Israeli capital to avoid Iranian attack]”
On 5 March, Jordanian outlet Roya News said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “had targeted the [Ben Gurion] airport and also an air force base in the area”.
It added that according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the IRGC said, “The heavy Khorramshahr-4 missiles carrying one-tonne warheads were launched at dawn today … toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport, and the base of the Israeli air force’s 27th squadron located at the airport.”
The same was reported by multiple other media outlets.
On 11 March, Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported that even though there was a “limited reopening” of the Ben Gurion Airport, the “Israeli airspace remains heavily restricted” and “no major international airlines are currently flying” there. Moreover, “many international carriers [had extended] their suspension of flights to the region until the end of the month”.
Israel, US war with Iran
On 28 February, Israel and the United States launched joint airstrikes on Iran and assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top leaders in the country’s capital, Tehran.
President Donald Trump announced that “one of the most evil people in history is dead”, following the airstrikes that were part of attacks codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the US and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel.
Members of Khamenei’s family — including “his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson” — were also killed in the joint attack by the US and Israel. Additionally, Defence Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, army chief Abdolrahim Mousavi, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Pakpour were also assassinated.
Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a major maritime route for fuel and trade shipment, leading to a spike in oil prices that have also impacted Pakistan.
Any vessel that tried to cross would be set “ablaze” by the country’s forces, the senior adviser to the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, Ebrahim Jabari, warned. So far, only Pakistani, Turkish, and Indian ships have been allowed to pass.
On 9 March, it was reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Ali Khamenei’s 56-year-old second son, was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts to succeed his father.
Casualties of war
Over 1,200 civilians have been killed in the airstrikes as of 13 March, Iran’s Health Ministry has said, according to an NPR report, which also quoted spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour as stating that more than 10,000 have been wounded.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has noted that nearly 3.2 million Iranians have been temporarily displaced.
In the initial days, the two countries also bombed the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in the southeastern city of Minab, killing over 160 children. The United Nations noted that it was “deeply disturbed”, while Israel said it was “investigating the incident”. Meanwhile, Rubio explained that American forces “would not deliberately target a school”.
The strikes also targeted the historic Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tehran.
On the US side, at least 13 service members were killed, according to the Central Command (CENTCOM).
On the other hand, Iran launched “hundreds of missiles and unmanned drones” in attacks on US military bases in the Middle East, CNN and the BBC reported. “Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait […] said they had intercepted missiles fired towards them.”
“Eleven people were killed in Israel, officials said, and deaths were reported in the United Arab Emirates [UAE], Kuwait and Bahrain,” NBC News reported.
The NPR report added that the death toll in the Gulf states was at least 16.
War justifications
However, the US has not provided clear justifications for its attack on Iran, according to CNN, which said “the [Trump] administration has delivered anything but clarity”, “declined to enunciate a consistent set of goals and motivations”, and “spent the three days since shifting the goalposts and contradicting itself”.
On 1 March, Reuters reported citing sources that during closed-door briefings to Congress staff, Trump administration officials acknowledged “there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack US forces first”.
Then, on 2 March, according to ABC News, the US president laid out four objectives, saying, “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities […] and their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make. Second, we’re annihilating their navy. […] Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon … And finally, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”
And subsequently, on 3 March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Israel was going to attack Iran anyway so the American forces joined in expecting retaliation from Tehran.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the visuals provided in Geo News’ bulletin and found multiple Facebook posts from 12 March that rehashed a video, which includes the watermark of a Telegram channel named “Alibk3.”
It appears that screenshots from this same clip were used in the Geo News bulletin. However, the video looks like it is from an entertainment venue, likely a cinema, and not an airport.
The attribution to Iranian media could possibly be because of this post by a Facebook page called ‘PRESS TV’, which lists its address as “Srinagar Colony, India, West Bengal.” Tehran’s state-run news outlet is also called Press TV.
A further reverse-image search using keyframes from the video led us to news reports from 20 July 2025 about a “violent” physical altercation at the Cinema City Mall in Jerusalem.
According to Israeli news outlet Mako, “Teenagers tried to buy popcorn at the stand after it had closed, cursed at the employees, and shouted: ‘Death to Arabs.’ The teenagers threw plastic signboards and the employees threw them back at them.”
Officers “from the Lev Habira police station in Jerusalem were called” and “an investigation was opened”, the publication added. It quoted Cinema City management as saying, “We view the violent incident that occurred late at night in the Jerusalem complex with great seriousness. Dozens of teenagers rioted, cursed and threw objects at the cafeteria workers with the aim of harming them, until police arrived and dispersed the rioters.”
Kol Ha’ir, another Israeli media outlet, wrote that “not a single rioter has been arrested yet” for involvement in the “violent and racist riot” and engaging in “assault and attempts to harm the employees”.
Additionally, The Jerusalem Post noted that the incident involved “dozens of Jewish teenagers and Arab cafeteria workers”, three of whom “sustained minor injuries” but “did not require medical treatment”. It added, “Suspects fled the scene by the time officers arrived, and the injured employees were unable to identify them.”
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the visuals are old and unrelated. Moreover, there is no evidence of an attack on the Ben Gurion Airport on 13 March 2026.
Virality
Geo News published their broadcast on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, where it has gained over 270,000, 294,000, 28,500, and 20,200 views, respectively, so far.
Soch Fact Check also found the video circulating here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The visuals are old and unrelated. They are actually screenshots from a 2025 video showing a physical altercation between young Israelis and cinema staff.
Background image in cover photo: Chris Hoare
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com