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A viral video of Israel’s U.N. ambassador offering an Iranian representative a Starlink device has reached around 9 million views across social media — and nearly 40% of its Instagram viewers are in Iran, according to analytics shared with Digital.
A representative for Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon told Digital that the office was surprised by the video’s reach inside Iran, saying such an audience is unusual for Israeli diplomatic accounts.
“We couldn’t imagine to be the popular,” the representative said, referring to the video’s reach in Iran.
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Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday. (Angelina Katsanis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The representative said the encounter grew out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the U.N. General Assembly, where Netanyahu displayed a Starlink device while delivering a message aimed at the Iranian people.
According to Danon’s representative, Netanyahu had prepared the Starlink element for his speech and asked that the device be offered to the Iranian delegation afterward. Danon then approached an Iranian representative with the device in an encounter captured on video.
The Iranian representative declined to take it.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a Starlink device during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday. Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon later offered the device to an Iranian representative. (John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Danon later posted the exchange on social media, where the video quickly gained traction.
Instagram audience analytics shared with Digital show 39.9% of viewers were located in Iran, the largest share from any country. The U.S. accounted for 14.3%, followed by Israel at 12.6%, Canada at 5.9% and Germany at 4.1%.
The representative said Danon’s office viewed the unusually large Iranian audience as significant given the message accompanying the Starlink offer, which he described as one of freedom and freedom of expression for the Iranian people.
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Delegates arrives to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. Headquarters in New York City this week. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
But Danon’s office says another online trend emerged as the video spread.
The representative told Digital that accounts the office believes are Iranian began recirculating a years-old video of former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan being escorted from the General Assembly during a protest against then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The video dates to September 2023, when Erdan walked through the General Assembly holding a photograph of Mahsa Amini during Raisi’s speech.
One post recirculating the old video in recent hours has drawn hundreds of thousands of views while portraying the incident as a current confrontation involving Israel’s U.N. ambassador.
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Danon’s representative characterized the renewed circulation as a “disinformation campaign” intended to counter the attention surrounding Danon’s video.
“From our perspective, the Danon video moved something in Iran,” the representative told Digital, arguing that the Iranian regime was attempting to “change the story.”
Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
