Several Turkish media outlets recently fell for a prank, mistakenly identifying Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s alleged assassin as an Israeli agent named "Amit Nakesh."
The confusion stemmed from a humorous play on words involving the Hebrew term "hamitnakesh," which means "the assassin." In casual Israeli pronunciation, "hamitnakesh" becomes "amitnakesh," leading to the erroneous report.
Haber Global initially reported that "Amit Nakesh" was responsible for Haniyeh’s assassination. This report was later removed when the channel realized the name was simply a pun. The Akdeniz Gerçek newspaper even went as far as profiling this fictional character as a veteran Mossad agent with a history in Israeli security agencies.
Similarly, Usak Olay, another Turkish outlet, speculated about "Amit Nakesh" being an Israeli of Indian descent, despite the name being part of a joke. The outlet claimed security experts were investigating his alleged role in Haniyeh's death.
This incident follows a previous social media hoax from May, where a meme claimed that a helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was orchestrated by an Israeli agent named "Eli Copter," a name derived from a playful mispronunciation of "helicopter" in Hebrew. Investigations later confirmed that the crash was accidental and not linked to any larger conspiracy.
* Arutz 7 contributed to this report.