Video shows “Putin refused to acknowledge Netanyahu.”
Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, at Netanyahu official residence in Jerusalem on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (Heidi Levine/Pool photo via AP)
Misleading video from 2020 shows Putin ignoring Netanyahu
If Your Time is short
-
The video is from the World Holocaust Forum in 2020.
-
Multiple photographs from the event show the two leaders interacting.
-
Learn more about PolitiFact’s fact-checking process and rating system.
A video shared across social media appears to show Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he takes a seat next to him at an event.
One Instagram user shared the video with text reading, "Putin refuses to acknowledge Netanyahu! Based." The video’s caption reads, "Putin gave Netanyahu a cold shoulder and sat right next to him."
Several users asked in the comments when and where the video was taken. One user replied saying it was taken "4 days ago" amid the war in Gaza.
The video is from four years ago. It was taken Jan. 23, 2020, during the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem that commemorated 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
This video clip on its own is misleading, as photographs of the event show several instances of Putin and Netanyahu interacting.
Featured Fact-check
An Associated Press photo shows the two leaders cutting a ribbon together at the event during a dedication of a monument in Jerusalem that honored victims of the Nazi-led siege of Leningrad, present-day St. Petersburg, which is Putin’s hometown.
Another Reuters photo from the same day shows the two interacting.
A third photograph from Putin’s official website shows Putin and Netanyahu shaking hands at Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem the same day.
The Associated Press reported that Putin was a guest of honor at the event and Netanyahu gave him "a fawning welcome" as he asked Putin to release an Israeli woman who was imprisoned in Russia on drug charges.
Putin even delivered a speech at the forum, where he addressed Netanyahu by name. Netanyhau was seen embracing Putin after he finished that speech in a YouTube video by i24NEWS.
We rate the claim that Putin refused to acknowledge Netanyahu False.
Our Sources
Sources
Instagram post (archived), Feb. 4, 2024
YouTube, World leaders attend Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem | AFP, Jan. 23, 2020
YouTube, World Holocaust Forum: President Putin Inaugurates Leningrad memorial in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020
The Associated Press, Leaders vow to learn from Holocaust, offer competing lessons, Jan. 23, 2020
Reuters Pictures, HOLOCAUST-MEMORIAL/AUSCHWITZ-ISRAEL, Jan. 23, 2020
President of Russia, Meeting with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Jan. 23, 2020
The Times of Israel, ‘This crime had accomplices’: Full text of Putin’s World Holocaust Forum speech, Jan. 23, 2020
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Sofia Ahmed
Misleading video from 2020 shows Putin ignoring Netanyahu
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.