Netanyahu in hiding
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Netanyahu in hiding describes the period during the 2026 Iran war when Benjamin Netanyahu could not be located publicly. John Kiriakou called it "a kind of a mystery": there were reports that he was hiding in Germany, and later that he was hiding in Cyprus. His judgement was not about the location, "Wherever he happens to be, he's hiding. What kind of wartime leader is that?"

Iran's use of Israeli tactics

Kiriakou's explanation for the disappearance is that Iran had begun doing to Israel's leadership what Israel had done to its adversaries'. Netanyahu's house was struck; his brother was inside and was killed. Itamar Ben-Gvir's house was also targeted, and as of the previous night's reporting Ben-Gvir was critically injured.

"They are employing Israel's tactics of taking out the heads, the leadership," Kiriakou said, and drew the obvious inference about how the Israeli government was taking it: "this has to have the Israelis on their heel. I don't think that they expected any of this."

How Iran acquired the targeting to do it is treated at targeting information between allies; Kiriakou raised the possibility that Russia was supplying satellite reconnaissance, or that Iranian agents had penetrated the Israeli state.

See also

- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Itamar Ben-Gvir
- 2026 Iran war
- Targeting Information Between Allies
