Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video of himself drinking a cup of coffee and talking to his aide on Sunday, after rumors that he was dead or injured were reported by Iranian state media and spread online in Iran.
In the video, recorded in a cafe on the outskirts of Jerusalem and posted to Netanyahu’s Telegram account, his aide asks him about the rumors.
Netanyahu responds with a pun on the word dead – which in Hebrew slang can be used to describe ‘being crazy about’ someone or something – while picking up a cup of coffee.
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“I’m crazy about coffee. You know what? I’m crazy about my people,” Netanyahu told his aide.
A Reuters verified the location of the video based on archival footage of the coffee shop, which corresponds to the interiors seen in the video. The date was verified from several videos and photos of Netanyahu’s visit posted by the coffee shop on Sunday.
Since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, Netanyahu has visited at least two cities hit by Iranian missiles, a hospital, a port and military bases, but there has been little or no media access, and the videos have been distributed by his office.
Netanyahu, who rarely gives interviews to the Israeli press or holds news conferences, called his first press conference since the start of the war via video link on Thursday, a format similar to the one he used in June during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.
Emergency security restrictions in place in Israel since the start of the war prohibit public gatherings, which have kept most people at home or near shelters and safe rooms, with schools closed in most of the country.
