Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

WATCH: Netanyahu visits café to dispel conspiracies about his supposed death

“Do you want to count the number of my fingers?” the Israeli premier joked, referencing claims that his recent press conference was generated by AI.

Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the Knesset, on Feb. 23, 2026. Credit: GPO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday posted a video to X showing himself buying a cup of coffee at a café, to dispel conspiracy theories circulating online that he was killed by Iran.

“They’re saying online that you’re actually dead,” a man filming Netanyahu on a smartphone is heard saying in Hebrew.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister replied, “I’m dying for coffee.”

The Hebrew phrase he used, literally “dead for,” is an idiom expressing extreme enthusiasm or love for something.

Netanyahu continued, “You know what? I’m ‘dying for’ my people.”

The Israeli leader then raised his fingers and asked the cameraman if he wanted to count them, appearing to mock social media rumors that his March 12 press conference in Israel had been generated by artificial intelligence and showed him with six fingers on one hand.

The premier went on to praise Israelis for their steadfastness during the war, saying their support had given him, the government, the Israel Defense Forces and the Mossad intelligence agency the strength to continue carrying out actions that “I cannot share with you right now.”

He said Israel was delivering heavy blows to Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and urged citizens to continue following Home Front Command guidelines by remaining close to protected spaces.

As of Monday morning, the post had garnered more than 60 million impressions.

The equipment was simultaneously loaded onto hundreds of trucks and transferred to IDF bases throughout the country in an operation personally overseen by Defense Ministry’s director general.
“I was brought in to unite the room in a sense of wonder,” the mentalist Oz Pearlman told JNS prior to the event, which was cut short after an assassination attempt.
“Taxpayer dollars are being wasted in overseas wars and should be redirected to the cost-of-living crisis at home,” a May Day Strong organizer told JNS.
“Having the Southern Poverty Law Center label you, a black woman, as an ‘apologist for white supremacy,’ it sort of makes you like kryptonite for any universities that would be looking to hire you,” Carol Swain told JNS.
“The United States expects all our allies, particularly those who have committed to supporting President Trump’s successful 20-Point Plan, to take decisive action against this meaningless political stunt,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said the individuals, including three teachers, were referred to the U.S. State Department for possible debarment from U.S.-funded aid programs.