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Netanyahu posts video in response to Iran rumours that he is dead

March 15, 2026 1:29 PM EDT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts at a cafe, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 15, 2026, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. Benjamin Netanyahu via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

JERUSALEM, March 15 (Reuters) - Israeli ‌Prime Minister Benjamin ​Netanyahu ​posted a video of himself getting a cup of coffee and chatting with his aide on Sunday, after rumours ‌that he was dead or injured were aired by Iranian ⁠state media and spread online in Iran.

In the video, taken at a cafe ‌in Jerusalem's outskirts and posted ‌on Netanyahu's Telegram account, his aide asks him about the rumours.

Netanyahu responds with a pun on the word dead -- which in Hebrew ​slang can be used to describe "being crazy about" someone or something -- as he reaches for a cup of coffee.

"I'm crazy about ⁠coffee. You know what? I’m crazy about my people," Netanyahu tells the aide.

Reuters verified the video's ​location from file imagery of the cafe, which matched the interiors seen in the video. The date was ​verified from multiple videos and photos of ‌Netanyahu's visit posted by the cafe on Sunday.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February ⁠28, Netanyahu has visited at least two towns hit by Iranian missiles, a hospital, port and military bases, but there was little to no media ⁠access, and videos were distributed by his office.

Netanyahu, who rarely gives interviews to Israeli ​press or holds news conferences, convened his first press conference since the start of the war via a video link on Thursday, a similar format to ‌the one he used in June during Israel's 12-day war with Iran.

Emergency safety restrictions in Israel since the ‌start of the war ban public gatherings and have kept most people ⁠at home or close to ‌shelters and safe ​rooms, with schools shut across most of the country.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai; Editing by ‌Aidan Lewis)



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