October 2, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed, in an extensive interview with CNN, that Israeli forces will remain stationed in buffer zones inside both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip as long as the threat exists. Netanyahu explained that the goal of the military presence in the Gaza Strip is to prevent the Hamas movement from repeating the October 7 attacks, stressing the need to completely disarm the Strip and remove tension. Regarding the Lebanese issue, he indicated that the Israeli government is holding discussions with its Lebanese counterpart, but he considered that the presence of Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran like Hamas, represents a major obstacle, stressing that remaining in a security corridor on the Lebanon and Gaza fronts is necessary to ensure that Israel is not exposed to new attacks.
In another context, Netanyahu revealed that the pilot accused of attacking the pilot of the “Fly Dubai” flight is currently under investigation in Saudi Arabia, and is expected to be transferred soon to the Emirates. He explained that he contacted the President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who immediately agreed to Israel’s participation in the ongoing investigations to uncover any possible Iranian connection to the incident. Netanyahu described the operation to control the attacker as a heroic act that saved the world from certain disaster, praising the courage of the passengers, including passenger Yaniv Hayun, and recalling his previous personal experiences in hostage rescue operations. He also criticized the British position, accusing it of hypocrisy and opportunism for imposing sanctions on Israel despite receiving intelligence information about Iranian threats.
On the Iranian nuclear level, Netanyahu stressed that the regime in Tehran seeks to revive its nuclear program at any cost, praising the economic pressures imposed by the administration of former US President Donald Trump. He described the Iranian nuclear program as a cancerous tumor that requires eradication and constant monitoring to prevent its possession of atomic weapons that might change the history of the region. On the other hand, Netanyahu strongly denied reports that Tel Aviv had received prior warnings from Egypt and the UAE regarding the October 7 attack, acknowledging at the same time the existence of an intelligence failure represented by a misreading of Hamas’s tendencies before the attack.
Regarding international criticism directed at Israel regarding settler violence in the West Bank, Netanyahu rejected these criticisms, describing them as a “big hoax.” He explained that these practices are carried out by a small group of between 150 and 200 outlaw youth, stressing his complete condemnation of their actions and assigning the Shin Bet to deal with them. Netanyahu believed that making a comparison between the attacks of these young men and those launched by Palestinian factions is a false equality that fuels hostile propaganda, pointing to numbers that reflect the volume of daily attacks against Israelis and accusing the Palestinian Authority of supporting the perpetrators of the attacks.
