A television journalist is being mocked online for falling for a prank by naming the killer of Iran’s President Raisi as Mossad agent “Eli Copter” during a live segment. 

The political analyst for French i24 — a French-language version of the 24-hour Israeli cable news network — Daniel Haik read the name aloud on television after falling for a social media user’s prank. 

“The pilot was a Mossad agent with the name ‘Eli Copter,’ it’s not currently clear whether this is true or not, but that’s the rumor going around,” Mr. Haik said during a Sunday night broadcast, referring to the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and other officials that crashed.

Mr. Haik read the fake bulletin from Telegram, an online messaging service where users can join “channels” to follow along with breaking news items.

The ‘Eli Copter’ joke was circulating on Israeli telegram channels shortly after Raisi’s plane reportedly crashed, which is where Mr. Haik fell for the prank, according to the Jewish Chronicle. Raisi was declared dead early Monday morning eastern daylight time after a rescue crew in northern Iran recovered his body from the crash site. 
The jokes at Mr. Haik’s expense since his gaffe have been relentless online. One video posted by an X user shows an Orthodox Jewish man playing a jet fighter simulator video game with the caption: “Ebrahim Raisi’s pilot.” Another post is an AI-generated photograph of a helicopter painted with the Israeli flag, wearing a yarmulke, and adorned with the traditional hairstyle of an Orthodox Jew.