A video showing Israel’s U.N. ambassador offering a Starlink device to an Iranian representative has amassed roughly 9 million views on social media. Analytics provided to News Outlet indicate that Iran accounted for nearly 40% of the video’s Instagram audience.
A spokesperson for Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said the office was caught off guard by the video’s popularity in Iran, noting that Israeli diplomatic channels rarely attract such a large Iranian audience.
“We couldn’t imagine being this popular,” the spokesperson said while discussing the video’s reach among Iranian viewers.
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 exchange followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly. During his address, Netanyahu held up a Starlink device as part of a broader message directed at the Iranian public.
Danon’s office said Netanyahu had arranged for the Starlink device to be used during the speech and later instructed that it be presented to Iran’s delegation. Danon subsequently approached an Iranian representative with the device, an interaction that was recorded and shared online.
The Iranian representative refused the offer.
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 uploaded footage of the moment to social media, where it rapidly spread across platforms.
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Instagram data shared with News Outlet show that Iran represented 39.9% of the video’s viewers, making it the leading source of traffic. Viewers in the United States made up 14.3%, followed by Israel with 12.6%, Canada with 5.9% and Germany with 4.1%.
The spokesperson said Danon’s office considered the unusually strong response in Iran especially notable because the Starlink offer was framed as a message supporting freedom and freedom of expression for the Iranian people.
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)
At the same time, Danon’s office said a separate social media narrative began gaining momentum as the Starlink video circulated.
According to the spokesperson, accounts believed to be based in Iran began sharing an older video involving former Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan. The footage shows Erdan being escorted out of the General Assembly during a protest connected to a speech by then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The recording was made in September 2023, when Erdan walked through the chamber holding a photograph of Mahsa Amini as Raisi addressed the assembly.
One recent post featuring the footage has received hundreds of thousands of views while presenting the two-year-old incident as though it were a new confrontation involving Israel’s current U.N. ambassador.
Danon’s representative described the renewed distribution of the clip as a “disinformation campaign” designed to draw attention away from the ambassador’s viral Starlink video.
“From our perspective, the Danon video moved something in Iran,” the spokesperson told News Outlet, claiming that Iranian authorities were trying to “change the story.”
