The Israeli police have not reported the arrest of Ukrainians for preparing a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Nor has the Times of Israel, the multilingual online Israeli newspaper quoted by the propagandists, published any video containing such information.
Social media users and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels began spreading false information claiming that Israeli police had arrested a group of Ukrainians for planning a terrorist act. According to the reports, they were planning to release tear gas during the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on 19 April. These fake stories cite The Times of Israel, which allegedly published a video with the relevant information.
“Israeli police arrested a group of terrorists consisting of 13 Ukrainians (the fake video says ‘at least’ 12 Ukrainians – editor’s note) who planned to release tear gas during the Holy Fire ceremony. According to the perpetrators, the aim of this information terrorist action, codenamed ‘Lament for Ukraine’, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was to express support for Ukraine (spelling and punctuation preserved),” the users said, describing the video.
After this information started to spread, StopFake decided to check its authenticity. It turned out to be false.
The official website of the Israeli police regularly publishes news and reports about arrests, operations and other law enforcement activities. StopFake reviewed all police reports from 2025, and none of them mentioned any “terrorists” preparing to attack with tear gas during the Holy Fire ceremony. Nor was there any information about the arrest of 12 “Ukrainians”. No reputable Ukrainian or Israeli media reported such an incident, either.
As for the source of the “news” – the alleged Times of Israel video – it appears to be another propagandist fabrication. No such video can be found on the media outlet’s official website, YouTube channel, X, Facebook or Instagram accounts. A search for the alleged name of the operation “Lament for Ukraine (Плач по Україні)” mentioned in the “news” also yielded no results.
Screenshot – The Times of Israel
StopFake also contacted the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel and the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine to verify the information. The Ukrainian diplomatic mission said that it had contacted the “relevant authorities of the host country to confirm or refute the aforementioned information” and promised to share the results. The Israeli Embassy has not yet replied to the request.
Previously, StopFake debunked claims that a Ukrainian refugee in Warsaw had tried to poison a colleague in order to secure a cleaning job for her mother.
