A video featuring Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, offering a Starlink device to an Iranian representative has gone viral, amassing around 9 million views across social media. Interestingly, nearly 40% of the views on Instagram come from Iran, which surprises Danon’s team since it’s not common for Israeli diplomatic messages to reach that demographic.
According to a representative from Danon’s office, they were quite astonished by the engagement within Iran, noting, “We couldn’t imagine to be that popular,” in reference to the video’s unexpected audience.
During his address at the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had shown off the Starlink device while delivering remarks aimed at the Iranian populace. Following this, he instructed that the device be offered to the Iranian delegation. Danon then approached an Iranian representative with the device, a gesture that was recorded on video, although the Iranian declined to accept it.
Afterwards, Danon posted the interaction online, and it quickly gained traction. Analysis indicates that 39.9% of the viewers were from Iran, making it the largest audience segment from any single country. Other notable demographics included viewers from the U.S. at 14.3%, Israel at 12.6%, and Canada at 5.9%.
Danon’s office perceives the large number of Iranian viewers as notable, especially given the message delivered alongside the Starlink offer, which they described as promoting freedom and expression for the people of Iran.
Interestingly, following this event, there has been a resurgence of older content circulating on social media. Accounts suspected to belong to Iranian users have been sharing a video showcasing a former Israeli U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, being escorted out during a protest against the Iranian president from September 2023. This video, now recirculated as if it were current news, portrays a confrontation that isn’t happening now but was from a previous incident.
Danon’s representative described this development as a “disinformation campaign” aimed at diverting attention from Danon’s video, claiming it reflects a significant shift within Iranian audiences. “From our perspective, the Danon video moved something in Iran,” they added, suggesting that it prompted the Iranian regime to manipulate the narrative.
