Defense Minister Katz: Khamenei ‘cannot continue to exist’

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is a “modern Hitler” who “cannot continue exist,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

“A dictator like Khamenei, who leads Iran and has made the destruction of Israel his banner—cannot be allowed to continue to exist,” said Katz.

The military “has been instructed and knows that—to achieve all goals—this man should no longer continue to exist, without question,” said the defense minister, speaking at the site where an Iranian ballistic missile hit an apartment building in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, wounding 10.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday night that eliminating the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader would not escalate but rather end the conflict between Tehran and Jerusalem.

Pressed on the issue, the prime minister told ABC that Jerusalem was “doing what we need to do” to address the threat posed by Tehran.

“I’m not going to get into the details, but we’ve targeted their top nuclear scientists,” Netanyahu said, adding, “It’s basically Hitler’s nuclear team.”

On Wednesday, Khamenei threatened a strong response to the IDF’s “Operation Rising Lion,” which Jerusalem launched on June 13 with the declared objective of fully dismantling his regime’s nuclear capabilities.

“We must act forcefully against the Zionist terrorist entity. We will not be merciful toward the Zionists,” Khamenei wrote in a Hebrew post on X.

Twenty-four civilians have been slain in the Jewish state since the Islamic regime started attacking Israeli civilian population centers with ballistic missiles on June 13, while hundreds more sustained injuries.