On April 15, 2024, an X (formerly Twitter) user posted a screenshot of a press conference involving former Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett and Joe Biden alongside a claim the U.S. President fell asleep while the pair were speaking.
It was not the claim's first appearance on social media. In 2021, numerous X accounts, including those of Breitbart News and now-British-MP George Galloway, made the claim following the Aug. 27, 2021, press briefing between the two leaders.
Similar posts appeared elsewhere on X in 2024, where some accounts claimed the press conference was recent, as well as YouTube and TikTok.
However, as we noted in our 2021 fact check, the screenshot was misleading, as it only showed a single moment in a longer video featuring Biden and Bennett.
The August 2021 media conference, which was available to watch on C-SPAN, showed the pair speaking for at least 10 minutes. At 10:18, the U.S. President lowered his head for around 30 seconds while the Israeli PM spoke. During this time, Biden was moving his hands and twiddling his thumbs. As soon as Bennett finished speaking, the U.S. leader responded directly to what his Israeli counterpart was saying. Biden was talking and engaging with Bennett throughout the rest of the clip.
In addition to Snopes, numerous news outlets addressed the false claim back in 2021, including Reuters, Associated Press and USA Today.
Snopes has previously addressed false claims about Biden allegedly falling asleep. In fact, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been targeted by rumors aiming to undermine their mental fitness for office.