Claim : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requests for sanitizer after an Emirati touched the microphone.
Conclusion : The claim is misrepresentation. The video originates from November 26, 2020, during a diplomatic event at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Israel, during the Covid-19 pandemic and not an act of disrespect.
Rating : Misrepresentation — 
Several social media users have shared a clip and claimed that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu requested hand sanitizer after an Emirati touched a microphone, implying disrespect.The post includes a short video clip and states, “Netanyahu requests sanitizers after an Emirati touched the microphone,” followed by the comment, “They deserve every disrespect they can get.” View the post below –
“Netanyahu requests sanitizers after an Emirati touched the microphone.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣
They deserve every disrespect they can get. .pic.twitter.com/OopowadZ3z
— jewels (@Jewels_MsJay) January 5, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims which can be seen here and here.
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and discovered that it is misleading. This occurred at a diplomatic event at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Israel, marking the first commercial flight from Dubai to Israel. The claim omits crucial context of the COVID-19 pandemic, misrepresenting erstwhile hygiene measures as discriminatory behavior.
We first conducted a reverse image search from various keyframes of the clip to learn more about the context. The search took us to a Youtube video posted on November 26, 2020 on the ‘IsraeliPM’ channel. The title of the video is: “PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Welcoming Ceremony for the First Flydubai Commercial Flight from Dubai.” View the video and screenshot of this below –
From the video, we learn that this event marked the first commercial flight from Dubai to Israel. At around the 3:07 timestamp, Netanyahu rubs his hands before taking the microphone, seemingly gesturing for someone to bring hand sanitizer. Throughout this interaction, he is seen smiling and appears to say “thank you,” acknowledging at approximately 3:18. The moment when he is sanitizing his hands can be seen below:
Other reports like that published by Gulf News also confirm that this event occurred on November 26, 2020. An official press release was issued by Israel PMO summing up PM Netanyahu’s remarks at the welcome ceremony for the first FlyDubai commercial flight from Dubai to Israel. However, the claim missed the Covid 19 pandemic context, falsely portraying it as cultural disrespect.
Thus, the claim is Misrepresenatation.
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