AI-altered clip of Indian general's remarks on territorial expansion misleads online
- Published on April 3, 2026 at 08:34
- 3 min read
- By Rasheek MUJIB, AFP Bangladesh
India has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel in areas such as defence and agriculture, but a video online that appears to show an Indian general saying New Delhi should follow Israel's example and expand its territory is altered. The original clip is from July 2025, where he explained India's plan to eliminate Chinese parts in military components.
"Highly alarming news. This Indian general has leaked a plan to form an 'undivided India' comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal," reads part of a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on March 13, 2026.
The clip appears to show Indian general CS Mann saying that India is fully cooperating with Israel and the United States against the "terrorist Iranian regime".
It also shows him speaking on India's ambitions to expand beyond borders, while challenging neighbouring countries.
"Just like Israel's end goal of a Greater Israel, our end goal remains an undivided India," he says in a mix of English and Hindi, adding "the threat of Bangladesh and Nepal" will be dealt with later.
The term Greater Israel refers to a biblical interpretation of the nation's territory during the time of King Solomon, encompassing not only the present-day Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also parts of other countries including Jordan, Lebanon and Syria (archived link).
India maintains strong relations with Tehran but has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel in defence, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity (archived link).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a two-day visit aimed at deepening trade and defence ties on February 25 -- days before Israel and the United States attacked Iran, which triggered the Middle East war (archived link).
During the visit, Modi told Israeli lawmakers that India stood "firmly" with Israel following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. He did not explicitly mention the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
The false video has spread elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram. Comments left on the clip show some users believe the claim, with one saying, "Dream will never come true for idiots."
"Iran should take a chance this time to shut India's mouth," another user wrote.
But the visual predates the recent conflict and the video is altered with AI.
Fabricated remarks
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to a video with the same background and table setting posted on Press Trust of India's (PTI) X account on July 4, 2025 (archived link).
Its caption states Mann was speaking about eliminating Chinese parts from military components, stating the military is "keeping stringent checks and protocols to eliminate vulnerabilities, especially in drone systems".
At no point in the speech did he mention anything about the Middle East war, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh or an "undivided India".
Multiple Indian local media also reported on his remarks on the day (archived here and here).
AFP ran the clip through the Hive detection tool which found its audio is 98.8 percent likely to be AI-generated (archived link).
Mann's mouth movements in the clip also do not align with the audio, a further indication the footage is altered with AI.
AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation related to the Middle East war.
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