118 things Benjamin Netanyahu said, verbatim, from June 7, 2026 to October 5, 2026, each linked to where it ran. Grouped by the questions at issue, with who supported, disputed, or qualified each one.
69stories
118statements
Oct 5latest entry
01
Iran was involved in the Flydubai attack.
Qualifies
he said investigators had no specific information establishing such a connection and cautioned that it remained “too early to say.”
“I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes, but we're working on it right now”
02
The flydubai co-pilot's attack on the captain was an act of Islamist terrorism.
Qualifies
acknowledging as of Wednesday night that it couldn’t be ruled out that the attacker was acting out of mental illness rather than political motivations.
“the perpetrator underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane. We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
“Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani, for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews,”
on Netanyahu accusing Mamdani of inciting antisemitic violence in New York
“Israel rejects the Board of Peace's 15-point document on Gaza. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed”
on rejecting the Board of Peace's Gaza plan without full Hamas disarmament
“Some of them are acceptable to us and some are unacceptable to us, and we know how to stand up to these things. We have proven this in the past, and we are proving it today as well. In addition, the IDF will continue to thwart threats against our forces and against our citizens.”
on Netanyahu weighing parts of Trump's Gaza peace plan while the IDF continues operations
“Unlike all those who lecture us, we do what needs to be done for Israel’s security, and we can and know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary,”
on Netanyahu rejecting Trump's plan to end the Gaza conflict
“will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed … it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. And we are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.”
on Netanyahu ruling out Trump's Hamas disarmament plan
“The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed. And when I say the disarming of Hamas, it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry.”
on Israel rejecting Trump's Gaza plan and conditioning IDF withdrawal on full Hamas disarmament
“For children in Gaza, the test is simple. Does the killing stop? Does aid reach them at scale? Do hospitals reopen and water flow? Will children return to school safely in September? Children have heard promises before. This time, agreements must translate into action,”
on conditions for Gaza's children under the ceasefire, including aid and schools reopening
“The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance. Reaching it will be a process, and that process will be set out in the next phase of the work.”
“It was a meeting with full cooperation, with mutual support, with understanding on the joint goal that Iran won’t have nuclear weapons, and also other goals,”
“Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats… because you don’t have the guts to face down a hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood,”
“My goal is to make sure that Iran, with this regime, doesn't have nuclear weapons. And that is something that both President Trump and I agree on because it would be a different world.”
“When I say excellent, I don’t mean it in a superficial way. It was a conversation marked by full partnership, mutual support, and a shared understanding of our common goal: ensuring that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.”
on his meeting with Trump reaffirming opposition to Iran gaining nuclear weapons
“Naturally, our goal is to safeguard our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us. I am embarking on this mission with one clear goal: to ensure the security, strength, and future of our dear State of Israel.”
on Netanyahu describing his goals for Israel's security during his US visit for Graham's funeral
“I am on my way to Washington for a meeting with our friend, President Donald Trump. This is my eighth meeting with him since he was elected president for his second term, more than any other international leader. This is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility,”
on Netanyahu's eighth meeting with Trump ahead of talks on Iran
“are working so close together that it’s not that I’m going to present new information, but I think it’s a good thing to have the opportunity to sit with our good friend President Trump and to hear what he has in mind, because I think in many ways it’s his decision.”
“do not count on things remaining quiet if you attack us. Do not count on a repeat performance because it won't be a repeat. The last (attack) was powerful enough.”
“I can tell you only one thing; no, I will say this to Iran's leaders: do not count on things remaining quiet if you attack us. Do not count on a repeat performance because it won't be a repeat. The last (attack) was powerful enough.”
on warning Iran against launching another attack on Israel
“While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people. That is my commitment to you.”
“He said, ‘No way. You can’t do that.’ He was so concerned with our security, which he believed was your security, that he actually fought the prime minister of Israel on keeping America’s aid – or actually increasing it.”
“In other news, Lindsey Graham is dead. ‘I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do…’ ‘Level the place.’ ‘Do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin’ Bye Lindsey. May you live an eternity in ruins for the ruins you helped create in Gaza. Ameen.”
on reactions to Senator Lindsey Graham's death and his Gaza stance
“President Trump is the leader of the United States. He does what’s good for America. I’m the leader of Israel, the one and only Jewish state. I do what’s good for Israel,”
“The relations are not quite as they appear, and we have, we have many, many friends, and I have to tell you, we also take care of our friends, especially the Christians in the Middle East,”
“Iran is a nation of about 90 million. About 80 percent of them hate this regime and (would) like to see it gone. But you still have, you know, quite a few million minority that they can bring to the streets.”
“They could’ve gotten into the fight. They’re a very powerful military nation. They didn’t do that, maybe they didn’t do that because of me, but they could’ve gotten into the fight on the other side,”
“Infiltration, attack, terror tunnels, terror villages – all of that is eliminated. This is the directive: leave nothing behind, and you are doing that,”
on IDF operations clearing terror tunnels and villages in southern Lebanon
“These security zones are a paradigm shift. The meaning is that we no longer allow an army of terrorists to have a foothold on our border. We push them back – that is what you are doing. And we destroy, above ground and underground, basically anything that served them as a means of attacking us,”
“We will continue to hold it until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon. I want you to know: this is a massive blow to Iran and Hezbollah,”
on Israel holding ground in Lebanon until Hezbollah disarms
“We do everything in our power to protect our people. We don't have a war with Lebanon. We have a war with Hezbollah, who terrorizes Lebanon and seeks our destruction,”
“we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
on Israel striking Iran preemptively to limit American casualties
“That means maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon and remaining there for as long as Israel’s security requires it. This buffer zone separates Hezbollah terrorists from our citizens and our homes.”
“I can define it as my life's mission. I have stood by it to this day, and I will stand by it in the future. With an agreement, without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons. Not today, not tomorrow. As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, it will not happen.”
“We know that right now there’s a Qatari delegation in Tehran working to resolve disputes, helping to move things forward, progressing or narrowing the gap between both sides and this could be changing the picture for this latest memorandum of understanding.”
“We are currently squeezing Hamas; we now control 60 percent of the territory of the Strip — you know this. We were at 50, we moved to 60. My directive is to move to…”
“And it is an equation I find intolerable and unacceptable. They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran, and we would not act. That did not happen, and it will not happen.”
on vowing overwhelming force if Iran fires at Israel again after the Iran-Israel ceasefire
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip. You know, we were at 50, we moved to 60. My directive is to move to … 70%.”
“This morning, a heinous terrorist went out, reached Kochav Yair, and unfortunately managed, before being eliminated, to murder an Israeli citizen and injure others,”
“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable. He devoted his life to defending America, strengthening our alliance and standing up for the free world,”
“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets because that’ll upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East,”
on Turkey's potential purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the US
“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets, because that’ll upset the power balance in the Middle East which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East,”
on Turkey's potential purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the US
“For a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America and chants ‘death to America’ from that side of the spectrum, I don’t think they should be given F-35’s or the engines for their fighter jets,”
“Turkey is a great country, but it’s governed by a man who calls openly for the annihilation of Israel. He occupies half of Cyprus, a NATO country. He’s threatening Greece, another NATO country, and he talks openly about conquering Jerusalem,”
Benjamin Netanyahu on National security & surveillance2
As printed
“An explosive-laden drone discovered at an airport in Germany this week likely belongs to the Russian government, according to U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports about the incident.”
on a drone found at a German airport believed linked to the Russian government
“but we know who benefits from a weakened, destabilized Spain: Israel and the Western far right eager to turn migration onto a weapon against Muslims.”
on the dispute over migrants entering Spain's Ceuta enclave, as claimed by actor Javier Bardem
“I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue,”
on alleged causation between speech and the stabbing attack
“I speak to quite a lot of my friends, and they say, ‘Look, it’s like a different world. We’re afraid to go into the streets. We certainly do not want to wear yarmulkes or any clothing that would give away that we’re Jews.’”
Haaretz journalist Anshel Pfeffer follows Netanyahu from his family background and years in the United States to his political rise and long hold on power in Israel.