Israel paid $7 mil for a 30 second superbowl ad to convince americans their actions are justifiable.

Question

This is the instagram post i saw the claim on. https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Ox3-8sqAH/?igsh=MXB1d2xldno0ejdwMg== 

Comments

There are a few videos that are circulating on different websites that are dealing with the hostages being held by Hamas and letting them go.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/super-bowl-ad-on-antisemitism-features-i-have-a-dream-speechwriter-clarence-jones/  At thus link you can watch all the videos.

However, the main superbowl ad was one that was produced by Robert Kraft, who is the owner of the patriots. The whole purpose of the ad was to combat hate that specifically deals with antisemitism. This is not the first time Kraft has released a commercial that deals with antisemitism either, nor will it be his last as more commercials are planned to be put out. A new one released today. He was the one to spend the 7 million dollars, but nowhere in the commercial does it discuss pro-Israel topics.

https://apnews.com/article/new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-antisemitism-campaign-5da8844493522237f7e3426b93307d9a


Silence - Super Bowl LVIII Full Video - YouTube
www.youtube.com › watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R1ZVygVHwk

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I really like the way that you dove into who produced the ad as well as the lateral reading and you ending up finding that he often produces ads dealing with antisemitism. You made it really clear what this article was about and how you came to these findings.

Answer 1

From the limited information available, it seems that this claim is completely false. There seem to be two different ads in question. Robert Kraft funded the first ad, and it ran during the Super Bowl. The Israeli government funded the second commercial which did not run during the Super Bowl. Kraft's ad centered around a more general anti-hate message, mentioning both Muslims and Jews. It also featured the voice of Dr. Clarence B. Jones, the writer of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The Israeli-funded ad discusses bringing home all dads whom Hamas has taken hostage. I could not find a source proving that the Israeli-funded commercial was aired during the Super Bowl, but CBS News and the Wall Street Journal both claim that Kraft's ad was aired during the first half of the Super Bowl.

Furthermore, the agent who posted the claim has posted other misleading content. One post is a cropped version of a Joe Biden post. Joe Biden's post was referring to the Super Bowl game, but the agent's cropped version made it appear to be hinting at the Israel-Palestine war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HUxANY8z8

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/robert-kraft-foundation-to-combat-antisemitism-super-bowl-ad-doctor-clarence-jones/

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/super-bowl-2024-chiefs-49ers/card/the-foundation-to-combat-antisemitism-makes-plea-against-silence-UbJitlOrIsIEpHNyoH9n

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xUTwH7h2ZE

Comments

I appreciate your attention to detail with both the limited amount of information available as well as the agent who posted the original claim. Even with the limited information given you were able to put together a succinct fact check.

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This is a great factcheck. In addition, the original post was on Instagram which is not a reliable news source. The original post had an image of popular player Travis Kelce yelling at his coach which has nothing to do with the issue. The image is being used to gain attention to an issue that is not actually there.

Answer 2

This is false. The government of Israel did not buy a Superbowl commercial to justify its actions in the war against Hamas and the killing of Palestinians. Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, ran a 7 million ad in the Superbowl to combat hate and antisemitism. It did not go into any details about the war. The spot was titled “Silence”  and featured the voice of Dr. Clarence B. Jones, who was the speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr. The focus of the commercial was to stand up against all acts of hate. When researching this online, I did see sites discussing videos that ran during the Superbowl weekend, reminding people about the hostages still being held by Hamas. Still, those videos were not about justifying the war and did not run in the actual game. The Kraft spot is the only spot that discussed Jewish hate and was about stopping hate and antisemitism. I could not find anything else that ran in the Super Bowl that would support the claim on Instagram.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/video/robert-krafts-foundation-wants-people-to-stand-up-to-hate-with-super-bowl-ad/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HUxANY8z8

Comments

This was an insightful fact-check. I enjoyed reading the information you provided; there was significant information to successfully shut down the original claim that Israel paid 7 million dollars for a Super Bowl ad. There is good information in your answer that tells what the commercial actually was, who paid for it, and who was featured.

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The original claim seems to be false and misleading due to your thorough fact-check. Clarifying the actual message and content of the ad with a credible article makes your fact-check strong. Furthermore, the article you linked is from a reliable source.

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Your fact-checking on the claim about Israel buying a Super Bowl ad to justify actions against Hamas is correct and nicely done. mentioning that is was Robert Kraft, not the Israeli government, who funded a $7 million Super Bowl ad through his foundation to combat hate and antisemitism. was a strong focus point for your argument. The clarification, supported by credible sources, effectively debunked the initial claim, underscoring the ad's aim to fight antisemitism rather than justify political actions.

Answer 3

This post is extremely misleading, the original post on Instagram shows no way that they got the statistics that they used for this claim. The post is also shows an extremely trendy topic like the Super Bowl, likely to get as many people to view this post, mostly football fans who wouldn't have seen this post otherwise. Since the original post does this very misleading background in addition to not showing the source material, this should never be trusted.

Comments

What sources did you use for your fact-check? Please include them with all fact-checks, going forward.

Answer 4

While watching the super bowl, this ad probably stood out to me the most and I knew I would see it on social media later. This claim is utterly false. The instagram post makes claims that the advertisement was 'funded by the Israeli Government' which are completely false. The author tries to explain it by saying that the Israeli Government are using this ad to convince Americans that the war is justifiable. In reality, the advertisement had nothing to do with the Israeli government and suggested nothing about the ongoing conflict in the area. 

The advertisement was 30 seconds long and was created by the FCAS (The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism). It appears that the ad was funded and produced by Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots. He has a history of supporting Jewish communities and has published ad's before. The advertisement had nothing to do with 'pro-Israel' beliefs, it was simply a campaign to advocate against antisemitism and bring attention to all the hate Jewish people are receiving around the world. The ad is attempting the start a hashtag or trend by saying "#StandUpToJewishHate and #StandUpToAllHate". The ad is narrated by Dr. Clarence B. Jones, who was a draft speech writer for Martin Luther King. The instagram posts mentions nothing of how this post is advocating to stop hate against all groups not only Jewish hate. 

Foundation Website: https://www.fcas.org/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/mike-freeman/2024/02/09/robert-kraft-patriots-owner-super-bowl-ad/72515641007/

Super Bowl add: https://youtu.be/D6HUxANY8z8 

Comments

I think this is a very good fact check of a sensitive, politically charged topic. You have good sources and make good points.

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This is a great fact-check. With opinions on this topic being so divided, it's easy for people to draw false conclusions or even make up claims to further prove their point. You did a great job of breaking down the ad, proving this claim to be false. Nice work!

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This a fantastic fact check. You handled a very sensitive topic with a lot of resolve. It is troubling that people draw incorrect conclusions regarding things this detrimental, and you did a very good job of explaining why it is false.

Answer 5

This claim comes from Wali Khan who has a huge following on his Instagram. This makes posting this false news even more harmful since he does have such a huge following. When someone like Wali posts a false statement his followers might not care to fact-check it and then they can start reposting this. That will cause even more false information to be pushed out. When there was an ad ran during a commercial break of the Super Bowl this past Sunday that the NFL team Patriots owner Robert Kraft paid for. The ad that Kraft paid for was to combat hate in the world but had no connection to the war going on overseas. I see why that could be manipulated that way with what is occurring overseas. But when I looked it up I found sources saying that there was indeed no connection to the commercial and the Palestine and Israel war. The commercial was trying to make people " stand up to hate" in the world. The commercial also included Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech writer. With that being said this commercial was targeted to stop antisemitism hate throughout the country. In conclusion, this is a false claim and also falls under misleading information. 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robert-krafts-foundation-to-combat-antisemistim-debuts-first-ever-super-bowl-ad-302059173.html

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2849999/robert-kraft-super-bowl-ad-targeting-antisemitism/