Haaland, a Former Gaza Hostage, and the Viral Lie Machine: What the Video Actually Shows
A resurfaced video of Erling Haaland speaking with former hostage Omer Shem Tov has been twisted into a claim that the footballer praised killing Palestinians. Evidence does not support that.
A video involving Erling Haaland and former Gaza hostage Omer Shem Tov has become the latest example of how the Israel-Palestine information war consumes celebrities. The viral claim is extreme: that the Norwegian Manchester City striker called an Israeli soldier to congratulate him for killing 100,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. That claim is not supported by the available evidence.
What appears to be true is that Haaland held a video call in 2025 with Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli former hostage who had been held in Gaza and later released. The call was presented at the time as a supportive gesture toward a freed captive, not as praise for military action. There is no reliable evidence that Haaland congratulated anyone for killing Palestinians, endorsed civilian deaths or discussed a death toll in the way the viral post claims.
That distinction matters because celebrity misinformation spreads fast. A famous footballer has global reach. Attaching his name to an atrocity claim creates outrage across fan bases, religions and national communities. Once the accusation circulates, denial rarely travels as far as the original post. People who already distrust Western celebrities, Israeli media or football institutions may accept the claim because it fits a broader anger.
None of this means fans cannot criticize celebrities for selective empathy. Many people argue that public figures show compassion for Israeli hostages while remaining silent about Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza. That is a legitimate debate. Haaland, like many athletes, may be judged by what he says, what he avoids and whose pain he publicly recognizes. But criticism should not require inventing words he did not say.
The headline says Haaland congratulated killing. The evidence says he spoke to a former hostage. Those are not the same story. In war, truth is not a luxury. It is the only thing that prevents grief from being turned into a weapon against people who may not have done what they are accused of doing.