Netanyahu: I understand the true cost of war - my own son had to postpone his wedding
Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked outrage after suggesting he understands the 'personal cost' of Israel 's war with Iran - because his son had to postpone his wedding.
The Israeli prime minister made the remarks in a solemn address to TV cameras while standing in front of the ruins of a hospital in the southern city of Beersheba, hours after it was hit by Iranian missiles. Officials said at least 40 people were injured in the attack on Thursday.
'There are people who were killed, families who grieved loved ones, I really appreciate that,' Netanyahu said, comparing the attacks on Israel to the blitz in Britain during World War II.
'Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt. This is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.'
Israel and Iran have been exchanging missile attacks for a week after Netanyahu instructed the IDF to target Tehran's nuclear sites and top military officials.
The Israeli authorities say 24 Israeli civilians have so far been killed by Iran 's retaliatory strikes, with footage showing Iranian missiles slamming into residential areas. Meanwhile, Washington-based human rights activists estimate 639 people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Iran.
Netanyahu's comments angered his political opponents and the relatives of Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza.
Anat Angrest, whose son Matan has been held hostage by Hamas since the militant group's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, said in a post on X that the personal cost of the war 'didn't go unnoticed' by her and her family.
'I have been in the hellish dungeons of Gaza for 622 days now,' she wrote. 'I'm waiting for you, Prime Minister, to save him."
Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member for the Democrats, described Netanyahu as a 'narcissist'.
'I know many families who were not forced to postpone a wedding, but who will now never celebrate the weddings that were once meant to take place,' Kariv said.
Netanyahu, who is currently on trial in Israel for corruption and is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, has faced criticism for the ongoing war in Gaza and for being out of touch with everyday civilians.
Israeli opposition figures have criticised the prime minister for continuing his war in Gaza, which has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry. A total of 53 hostages remain in captivity, of whom Israel believes 30 are dead.
Hamas killed around 1,200 people during their cross-border attacks on 7 October, 2023, and took 251 people hostage. Previous ceasefires have seen dozens of hostages released from captivity in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Netanyahu's government says Hamas must be eradicated, but after nearly two years of war, the militant organisation continues to fight in some areas of Gaza.
Peace talks between Hamas and Israel, meanwhile, have broken down.
Several anti-government organisations previously announced they were planning demonstrations in the area of the wedding of Netanyahu's son, Avner.
Iron roadblocks and barbed wire fences had already been erected within a 100-metre radius of the venue, the upscale Ronit's Farm event hall in Kibbutz Yakum, north of Tel Aviv, when the Netanyahu family announced last weekend that the wedding would be postponed.
Police had also announced that all airspace within a mile radius of the venue would be closed during the ceremony, except for police helicopters.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
13 minutes ago
- Reuters
US sanctions target those providing Iran with defense machinery, Houthi oil trading
WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Friday it had issued fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting eight entities, one vessel and one person for their alleged role in providing sensitive machinery for Tehran's defense industry. "The United States remains resolved to disrupt any effort by Iran to procure the sensitive, dual-use technology, components, and machinery that underpin the regime's ballistic missile, unmanned aerial vehicle, and asymmetric weapons programs," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "Treasury will continue to degrade Iran's ability to produce and proliferate these deadly weapons, which threaten regional stability and global security," he added in a statement announcing the action. Two of the entities include shipping companies based in Hong Kong: Unico Shipping Co Ltd and Athena Shipping Co Ltd, the statement said. The Treasury Department on Friday also issued counterterrorism-related sanctions targeting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over alleged illicit oil trading and shipping, it said in a separate statement. Those sanctions target four individuals, 12 entities, and two vessels over imported oil and other illicit goods to support the Houthis, the department said.
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Thousands of Afghans are fleeing Iran every day to escape war and deportation
Thousands of Afghans are fleeing Iran every day to escape deportation and war, a major international aid agency and Taliban official said Friday. Millions of Afghans have called Iran home for decades. But they have been leaving in large numbers since October 2023, when authorities announced a crackdown on foreigners who it said were in the country illegally. Neighboring Pakistan launched a similar campaign around the same time. Iran's war with Israel, which started last Friday, is also forcing them to flee as Israeli strikes target the country. Some 5,000 Afghans are returning daily through the Islam Qala crossing in western Herat province, according to the aid agency World Vision International. There were people 'at risk, distressed, and in great need' among the 500,000 forcibly returned from Iran to Herat this year, the agency said. 'Many require support to find food and shelter, get hold of everyday essentials, and connect with their families before travelling to their hometowns or villages,' said Mark Calder, the agency's communications and advocacy director for Afghanistan. 'But they are returning to a country in which basic services are already in crisis.' Swinging U.S. aid cuts and a shortfall in funding for humanitarian assistance have closed hundreds of health facilities and reduced other essential services like education. The U.N. said Thursday that the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan had received just 18% of its annual funding by June 19, disrupting the delivery of aid to millions, including women and children, returnees, refugees, displaced communities and other vulnerable and marginalized groups. Calder warned that the number needing lifesaving aid could 'spiral further' if the international community did not look to support emergency needs and Afghans' efforts to start over in their homeland. Ahmadullah Muttaqi, head of Herat's Refugee Information and Public Affairs Committee, on Friday told The Associated Press that before June 13 between 3,500 and 4,000 Afghans without documentation were entering the province daily because of Iran's deportation drive. This figure has doubled since the outbreak of the war. Between 800 and 1,000 Afghans with passports were arriving in Herat every day before the war. This figure is now around 4,000, Muttaqi added.
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Four-star general reveals why Iran isn't cutting peace deal
Iran isn't cutting a peace deal with the United States because its leaders are confident they can rebuild its nuclear program even if it's wiped out, a retired general says. General Jack Keane, the former Vice Chief of Staff to the US Army, told Fox News that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei believes the country will be able to restart its hydrogen bomb with relative ease after a US-Israel bombing campaign. Amid varying assessments from top US officials over how close Iran is to developing a nuclear weapon, Keane said the hostile nation's abilities should not be underestimated . 'The nuclear enterprise is vast, and it is resilient,' Keane said. '(There are) multiple sites, centrifuges, so you can spin up enriched uranium. 'They did that to survive.' Keane said the Ayatollah has 'never made a deal' because 'he has built an enterprise to survive an attack' that he believes is strong enough to withstand US strikes. 'He believes they can absorb an attack, survive it, recover from it, and then rebuild. That is where this guy is,' he said. 'I don't see him, in the near term, making a deal here whatsoever.' Keane, a four star general, was likely referring to Iran's nuclear bomb factory, which is called Fordow and which sits deep under a mountain. The United States' most powerful 'bunker buster' bomb has been touted as a possible match for the Fordow facility. Other experts believe a tactical nuclear weapon would be needed. Using a nuclear bomb in an act of war is a huge taboo unbroken since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The general said for Trump to succeed, he needs to 'take the whole enterprise down' and wipe out the nation's top leadership and military capabilities, after Israel significantly weakened Iran in recent weeks. 'Look, Israel have destroyed all 70 of their air defense batteries, all of them. Air force, gone. The 12 nuclear sites, damages or destroyed. Then, leadership (is) decapitated, military and nuclear scientists. They can replace nuclear scientists, but in the near term, major problem.' Iran has long vowed to obliterate Israel at the first chance it gets, with Israeli intelligence beginning their bombing campaign earlier this month over fears leaders in Tehran were just months off completing a nuclear weapon. World leaders and many military strategists have urged Trump to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, fearing that any direct US intervention could spiral into all-out war. Iran's allies include Russia and China, meaning the stakes for the current conflict could not be higher. Trump has instated a two-week deadline to make a decision, primarily whether to use a 30,000lb 'bunker buster' bomb to penetrate Iran's underground enrichment plant in Fordow. But Keane, who was heavily involved in the Iraq War, said he 'absolutely' believes Trump should use the bunker buster, saying 'the alternative is unacceptable.' He admitted that using the weapon could face challenges as we've never actually done' it before, but insisted 'that doesn't mean you don't do it.' Keane's urging of Trump to use the 'bunker buster' bomb comes as experts say the weapon is one of the only tools in the US military arsenal that could take out the Fordow enrichment site. The 30,000lb bomb is the largest non-nuclear bomb at America's disposal, and can smash through several hundred feet of earth, with the Fordow site said to be located up to 300ft underground. The GBU-57A/B 'bunker buster' bomb, as it is known, is arguably the top military reason that Israel wants the United States to join its air campaign against arch-foe Iran. The US designed and built the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) and remains the only nation to possess the bomb, as well as being the only country with warplanes capable of dropping its formidable payload. Crucially, it is also the only weapon widely believed to be capable of smashing through Iran's deeply buried nuclear facility at Fordow.
