Benjamin Netanyahu has denied dragging the US into war with Iran and set out Israel’s three goals for the conflict last night – but not before bashing the ‘fake news’ of his demise.
The prime minister opened his 45-minute press conference last night with the words: ‘First of all, I just want to say – I am alive, and you are all witnesses.
‘Now that I dispatch this piece of fake news, I want to give you an update on Operation Roaring Lion.’
The pointed remarks come days after the Israeli leader posted a video of himself getting a coffee to try and dispel rumours that he was dead.
Those stories stemmed from a video posted by the Israeli government which some social media users claimed showed Netanyahu with six fingers on one hand – a giveaway clue of AI content.
After dispelling them once again, Netanyahu quickly turned his attention to the war in Iran.
‘Trump is the leader – we get along great’
He addressed the apparent split that has emerged in his partnership with US President Donald Trump since Israel’s strike on the South Pars gas field – the world’s biggest and an energy lifeline for Iran.
The attack prompted Iran to retaliate against energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, sending global energy prices spiralling even further.
It left Trump and Netanyahu facing questions on whether they’re entirely in sync in prosecuting the war that began as a closely coordinated joint attack on the longtime regional foe.
Benjamin Netanyahu hits back at claims he ‘dragged’ Trump into Iran war
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel will not strike Iran’s South Pars gas field again unless Tehran retaliates.
Trump, during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, told reporters that he neither agreed with nor approved of Israel’s attack.
‘I told him, “Don’t do that”,’ Trump said of Netanyahu’s decision to strike.
‘We get along great. It’s coordinated, but on occasion he’ll do something. And if I don’t like it — and so we’re not doing that
Netanyahu said Israel ‘acted alone’ and that he’s agreed to Trump’s request that Israel hold off on any further attack on Iran’s giant gas field.
The prime minister also sought to downplay any space between him and Trump.
‘It’s been said that for 40 years I’ve been saying that Iran is a danger to Israel and a danger to the world. That is true,’ he said.
‘You know who else said that? President Trump.’
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, March 20, 2026, in Washington.
Netanyahu later added: ‘Look, I don’t think any two leaders have been as coordinated as President Trump and I. He’s the leader. I’m his ally. America is the leader.
‘Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?’
This was the Prime Minister of Israel talking to Israelis facing war conditions and to the whole world getting horrified by this imposed on Iran which could explode the planet. I am not sure anybody wants that. Yet.
Without mincing words, the Israel Prime Minister is saying he bombed Iran Oil refinery centre without permission form President Trump. Israel just decided to do it.
Essentially Netanyahu is admitting that his attempts to destroy the Iranian oil industry was his own maniacal move to push the war to the next level and Trump has told him to stop that and he will obey. Very soon Trump will get tired of the war because Iran is just too complicated for them and Trump will tell Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran and deal with his own issues at home.
Trump threatens to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if the Hormuz strait not fully opened
“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the US will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS,” Trump wrote.
The United States will destroy Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully opened within 48 hours, US President Donald Trump threatened in a Truth Social post on Saturday night.
The US strikes will start with “the biggest one [power plant] first,” Trump stated.
Trump’s statement follows a report in Japanese media that Tehran is ready to let Japanese-related vessels pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s latest statement and bombastic threats to Iran is bad news to Benjamin Netanyahu. This whole war on Iran for Trump is now about reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Netanyahu can forget about his fantasy for regime change in Iran.
In a few days Trump is going to have a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and he will tell Netanyahu to stop bombing Iran and their crazy war will be over.
As of now, Canadians are planning to sail to Gaza again as part of a flotilla that aims to deliver aid and break a nearly 20-year naval blockade months after six Canadians were detained by Israel for attempting a similar mission.
Safa Chebbi, spokesperson for the Canadian arm of the Global Sumud Flotilla, said more than 100 boats and 3,000 participants from around the globe are set to depart from Spanish and Italian ports on April 12, bound for Gaza.
Chebbi said health-care workers, journalists and builders hoping to provide aid and help in Gazan reconstruction efforts will sail on the fleet of ships, along with medicine and other life-saving supplies.
Hanging over the planned sailing is the possibility the boats will be intercepted by Israeli forces and passengers detained, as has been the case for dozens of ships in the past two decades, with none reaching Gaza since.
Last fall, Israel took more than 400 activists, including Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, into custody during the first sailing of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Shortly after, six Canadians sailing in the Freedom Flotilla, which has been attempting to land ships in Gaza since 2010, were also detained before being deported back to Canada.
This year, the Freedom Flotilla has joined with the Global Sumud Flotilla for a joint sailing, says Ehad Lotayef, one of the founders of the Freedom Flotilla’s Canadian branch
“We are not trying to be martyrs, but we are also not ignorant to the realities,” he said, noting that participants receive training to prepare them for possible violence if they are taken into custody.
Dr. Suzanne Shoush, a Black and Indigenous family physician in Toronto who is hoping to sail with the flotilla again after participating last year, said she and many others are ready to put their own safety on the line for the chance to deliver aid.
“People are willing to take the risk,” she said. “There is so much hope that the flotilla will break the siege.”
“Yes, people expect that detention will be an outcome but it should not be,” she continued. “Gaza has the right to invite people … to its shores. Palestinians have the right to receive aid.”
Fida Alburini, a Palestinian-Canadian organizer, also hopes to sail to Gaza despite the safety concerns.
“We’re human, so we feel scared for sure,” she said. “But … the risk really shouldn’t be there because we’re sailing under international law in international waters. We have humanitarian aid. We have baby formula. We have medicine. We have doctors.”
“The risk exists because (Israel) decides to attack us illegally,” she added.
There’s debate over the legality of Israel enforcing its naval blockade in international waters, but some experts say international law protects the delivery of aid, regardless.
Israel says its naval blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics consider it collective punishment.
Aid is trickling into Gaza, though not at the level promised under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, aid groups say. While the U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted major military operations, Israel has also continued to strike what it says are militants, often killing civilians.
A daily average of 225 trucks brought supplies into the Gaza Strip in January, the UN World Food Program said in its latest food security analysis, far below the promised 600 trucks per day.
Hunger is still acute in the region where the price of food has reportedly skyrocketed since the start of the Iran war.
Lotayef said the goal of the flotilla is not to solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but to establish a maritime corridor to the region so more aid can flow, bypassing choked land crossings.
“The supplies we carry are more symbolic,” he said, adding that the ships in the flotilla are too small and too few to bring sufficient aid needed to make a meaningful impact.
“But the goal is to open a path to Gaza and to open the eyes of the world to what’s happening over there.”
Shoush, a member of the Leqʼá꞉mel First Nation, said Indigenous people see themselves in the plight of Palestinians, as people who have faced occupation and settler colonialism.
She says she has a duty to act, even if it means putting herself in harm’s way.
“At some point you pass this line where sitting there watching, knowing, and actually doing nothing is worse for you than anything else can be.”
