'Amit Nakesh': Turkish Media Claimed Indian-Israeli Agent Killed Haniyeh, Then Realised It Fell For A Hebrew Pun

Turkish media outlets reported that an Israeli agent who goes by the name of Amit Nakesh had eliminated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. (Image: X/Eli David)

Turkish media outlets even gave ‘Amit Nakesh’ the rank of a colonel and said he was an Indian-origin Mossad agent.

Some Turkish media outlets were left red-faced when they found out that they wrongly assumed that Israeli spy agency Mossad had sent an operative named ‘Amit Nakesh’ to eliminate Hamas political wing chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and had fallen for an Israeli meme making rounds on Israeli social media.

Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in the Iranian capital where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Turkish outlets Akdeniz Gerçek Gazetesi, Guneydogu Ekspress and Haber Global said ‘Amit Nakesh’ killed Haniyeh in his guesthouse in northern Tehran.

Israel has declined to comment on Haniyeh’s killing and has neither claimed responsibility nor denied its role in the killing. Iran and its proxies accuse Israel and also the US of playing a role in the Hamas chief’s killing.

Despite that, Turkish news outlets like Usak Olay wrote a profile of Amit Nakesh, even going as far to speculate that he could be an Israeli of Indian-origin given his first name was Amit, a name which is very common in India.

However, Turkish media outlets realised later that they fell for an Israeli pun and quickly removed all references to the said ‘Amit Nakesh’. Israeli news outlets like the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post highlighted that ‘Amit Nakesh’ sounds suspiciously similar to the Hebrew word hamitnakesh which also means an assassin.

Israeli social media commentators like Dr. Eli David also poked fun at Turkish media outlets for the gaffe.

A parody account of ‘Amit Nakesh’ also popped up on X.

Several people were reminded of the ‘Eli Copter’ incident on social media where a Telegram channel close to Hamas falsely claimed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed by Mossad agent ‘Eli Copter’. They also realised later that they had fallen prey to Israeli memes on the internet on Raisi’s killing and understood that ‘Eli Copter’ was a pun on the word ‘helicopter’.