Netanyahu says enemies may try attacks before Israel's election
Israel's Knesset election is set for October 27, 2026, and Netanyahu is trying to shore up his security standing before the vote.
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He said Israel can strike its foes anywhere, at any time, but did not name which enemies he had in mind or describe the indications further, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In the same appearance, Netanyahu said Israel had killed the person who abducted Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or two days earlier, and had killed a Hamas brigade commander in northern Gaza overnight, according to Israel National News. He said more than 100 militants had been eliminated in Gaza in recent weeks.
The remarks come as Netanyahu campaigns four weeks ahead of the vote while trying to repair a security record damaged by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which happened on his watch, Reuters reported via the Jerusalem Post. He has also had to deny media reports that Middle East partners warned him of a potential Hamas attack, claims his political rivals have raised against him, according to the same report.
Separately, Iran's military chief Abdollahi said on Monday that any threat would draw a devastating response, and said the United States and Israel were wrong to expect that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death would collapse the wider resistance network.
Netanyahu's comments add a domestic political layer to weeks of hardline rhetoric toward Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, but they do not add new operational detail or shift the trajectory Israeli officials have already set out toward renewed strikes if red lines are crossed. Tying attack warnings to the election calendar suggests the security posture is being used for political positioning as much as to signal imminent action, in keeping with the tone Netanyahu has struck since launching his campaign. That keeps geopolitical risk elevated without pointing to a higher near-term chance of escalation.