Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday posted a brief video showing him reaching for a cup of coffee and speaking with an aide, in response to reports that Iranian state media had aired rumours claiming he was dead or injured and that those reports had spread online in Iran.
The footage, filmed at a café on the outskirts of Jerusalem and shared on Netanyahu's Telegram account, opens with the aide asking about the circulated rumours. As he takes a cup of coffee, Netanyahu replies with a play on the Hebrew slang for "dead," which can also mean "being crazy about" someone or something. "I’m crazy about coffee. You know what? I’m crazy about my people," he says to the aide.
The location seen in the clip was verified by matching the café interiors with existing file imagery of the venue. The date of the visit was corroborated by multiple videos and photographs of Netanyahu's presence that the café posted on Sunday.
Since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, Netanyahu has made several site visits, including at least two towns that were struck by Iranian missiles, as well as visits to a hospital, a port and military bases. During these visits there was little to no access for the media, and the material that reached the public was distributed by the prime minister's office.
Netanyahu, who seldom grants interviews to the Israeli press or holds traditional news conferences, held his first press briefing since the start of the war via a video link on Thursday. That remote format mirrored the approach he used in June during Israel's 12-day war with Iran.
Emergency safety restrictions in Israel that began with the onset of the war ban public gatherings and have kept many people at home or close to shelters and safe rooms. Most schools across the country remain shut under these measures.
Context and implications
The video serves as a direct rebuttal to the rumours circulating in Iran and online, delivered in an informal setting and shared through the prime minister's own communication channel. It also highlights the limited direct media access to Netanyahu during this period and the use of controlled releases by his office to communicate his movements.