Old Bulgarian Attack Video Falsely Shared as Netanyahu Clip
A 2013 video of an attack on Bulgarian politician Ahmed Dogan was misrepresented on social media as footage of an attack on Netanyahu.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Elections
A circulating 18-second video showing a man confronting a speaker at a podium was falsely presented as an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv after Israel's October 27, 2026 election. The footage was originally recorded at a January 19, 2013 party conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, where Ahmed Dogan was addressing delegates.
Why it matters
The misrepresented clip spread across platforms in multiple languages and was shared alongside claims of an assassination attempt on a sitting leader during a politically tense post-election period. Verification by AFP found no public reports of any such attempt against Netanyahu.
The reverse image search traced the clip to CBS News footage and other reports from January 2013, showing the event predates the Israeli election by more than 13 years. It is not yet established who first posted the misattributed version or why it was linked to Netanyahu.
The players
Ahmed Dogan
Former leader of Bulgaria's Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, who was attacked while addressing delegates in Sofia in 2013 and then resigned as party leader.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli prime minister whose name was falsely attached to the 2013 Bulgarian video after the October 2026 election, and whose bloc won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
The details
The clip was shared on social media with a Chinese-language X post and a Mandarin voiceover asserting it showed Netanyahu, and it circulated in English, French, Arabic and Burmese. Dogan resigned as party leader at the January 2013 national conference that followed the attack.
Timeline
January 19, 2013: Gas pistol attack on Ahmed Dogan at a Sofia party conference
January 20, 2013: AFP distributed a higher-quality version of the clip from BTV
October 27, 2026: Israeli general election held
October 29, 2026: False X post claiming an attack on Netanyahu circulated
Season Trajectory
The misattribution arrived during Israel's post-election period, when Herzog must grant a government-formation mandate by November 5, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 seats against a 61-seat majority threshold, so the coalition math remains unsettled.
Readers encountering similar clips should check whether the footage matches a known earlier event before accepting the stated location or target. Reverse image searches can quickly reveal when a video was first published.
The takeaway
Viral footage can be decades old and still be presented as breaking news, so checking a clip's original source before sharing it helps prevent misinformation from spreading.
What happens next
President Isaac Herzog is expected to grant a party leader a mandate to form a government within 28 days, by November 5, with a possible 14-day extension.
Further reading
Explore more on Elections coverage and how post-vote periods attract misinformation.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Fact Check.
