Facebook post about Israel’s missile defense system shows video game footage

A video snippet in a Facebook post  purports to show Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system targeting a military plane. But like a similar post from several days earlier, this one uses  footage from a video game, not actual combat.

The more recent post included video of a mounted rotating machine gun firing on a plane. The text on the post reads: "Israel’s Iron Dome Defense System." 

The June 2 Facebook post, which appeared in the aftermath of a real 11-day battle between Israel and Hamas, the militia group that controls Gaza, was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)"

The footage featured in the post is actually a digital simulation from "Arma 3," a tactical military video game produced by Prague-based Bohemia Interactive, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to PolitiFact. Similar versions of the video still appear on YouTube.

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Israel itself published videos of Iron Dome engaged in actual combat, but the video featured in this Facebook post is not one of them. Shortly after the legitimate videos were uploaded, users created simulations using the "Arma 3" game interface and published them to YouTube and other sites.

PolitiFact debunked a similar May 22 post that used footage from the game to falsely claim it showed Israel anti-missile defense system intercepting rockets. Similar videos using lifelike game simulations have been posted with false claims that they show missile attacks in Iraq, according to a fact-check published by Lead Stories in January 2020.

We rate this Facebook post False.

RELATED: This is not a video of Israel's 'Iron Dome'