Knesset member challenges Twitter over ‘sleeping’ Biden video

According to Twitter, the Knesset member’s 22-second video clip was “misleadingly cropped.”

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Knesset Member Galit Distel-Atbaryan of the Likud Party fired back at Twitter on Monday evening after the social media company labeled a video she posted as “manipulated media.”

The viral video, which appeared to many viewers to depict President Joe Biden falling asleep during his meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House last week, has over 6.3 million views on Distel-Atbaryan’s account alone.

Distel-Atbaryan questioned Twitter’s characterization of the video as “manipulated.” She said the video was obtained “as is” from the official White House YouTube account, and she invited Twitter to pass their warning on to the White House.

“I did not touch. I did not edit. I did not even say that Biden was asleep,” tweeted Distel-Atbaryan.

“I took this video and it went viral around the world. Now ask yourself what fascinated almost six million people?” she said. “Are two people sitting and chatting an internet sensation, or did they see something else there?”

Distel-Atbaryan suggested that whether Biden was nodding off or not, his behavior during the meeting was inappropriate.

“I have no idea if Biden is sleeping, bored, or drowsy. I know one thing – his body language does not respect the person sitting in front of him, and by chance that is the prime minister of Israel. No citizen wants his country’s leader to receive such treatment,” she said.

Distel-Atbaryan also provided a link to the unedited White House video, where the meeting can be viewed in its entirety.

According to Twitter, the Knesset Member’s 22-second video clip was “misleadingly cropped.”

“Reuters, a CNN fact-checker and journalists say a viral video of a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House has been cropped and is misleading. The original footage shows Biden talking and responding to Bennett only seconds later,” Twitter said in a statement.

Distel-Atbaryan posted the video on Twitter last week. “For some reason, the Israeli media fell asleep on its own and did not pay attention to this historical segment. I thought you should know anyway,” she tweeted, along with a sleeping emoji.

This isn’t the first time Distel-Atbaryan has been in conflict with big tech. In June, her Facebook account was temporarily restricted for violating “community standards,” following a post in which Distel-Atbaryan called for citizens to protest outside the home of Knesset member Nir Orbach of the Yamina Party.

That same month, she introduced “The Social Networks Bill” to give citizens legal recourse if social networks block users or remove their content.