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Netanyahu : « Nous devons être plus forts que les barbares, sinon ils forceront nos portes et détruiront nos sociétés » — Netanyahu: "We must be stronger than the barbarians, or they will force our gates and destroy our societies"
On 19 March 2026, the French edition of The Times of Israel published a transcript of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference in Jerusalem. The headline is "Netanyahu : « Nous devons être plus forts que les barbares, sinon ils forceront nos portes et détruiront nos sociétés »". Stav Levaton, Lazar Berman, and AFP are credited. The page says it was updated on 20 March 2026. An American family should care because Netanyahu says the United States and Israel are fighting Iran together, and then says this kind of fight cannot be finished from the air alone. He says there must also be a part on the ground. He declines to say whose soldiers that part would be.
Background for a new reader. The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026; Washington calls its part Operation Epic Fury. Through March the argument in Washington was whether to add ground troops, meaning American soldiers physically inside Iran, to what had been an air and sea war. Israeli outlets, writing in Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, French and English, followed that argument closely and often passed on American reports to their readers. This page is one of those reports.
Evidence rating: MODERATE. The Times of Israel's French edition prints the transcript of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference, and English outlets printed the same sentence. The rating covers his words as transcribed.
What the article says
The page says this is the transcript of Netanyahu's first English press conference since the war in Iran began. He spoke in Jerusalem on 19 March 2026. He says that, under President Donald Trump, America and Israel are acting together in Iran. He lists three goals: remove the nuclear threat, remove the ballistic-missile threat, and create conditions for the Iranian people to take control of their own future.
Asked who would lead Iran next, he says the point is not to swap one ruler for another. He says the Iranian people would have to choose the moment and rise. Outsiders, he says, can create the conditions, but the people would have to do the rest. He then takes up the claim that you cannot win, and cannot make a revolution, from the sky.
On ne peut pas le faire uniquement depuis le ciel. On peut faire beaucoup de choses depuis le ciel, ce que nous faisons, mais il doit aussi y avoir une composante au sol.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the Times of Israel French transcript, 19 March 2026. In plain English: you cannot do it only from the sky. You can do a lot from the sky, which is what they are doing, but there must also be a ground component.
He adds that there are many options for that ground piece, and that he would rather not tell the press what they are.
What other reporting and posts add
- The same sentence in English. Just the News, 20 March 2026, prints the English Netanyahu spoke at the press conference: "It is often said that you can't win, you can't do revolutions from the air, that is true. You can't do it only from there, you can do a lot of things from the air and we're doing, but there has to be a ground component, as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities." Just the News. The Hill adds his line that "You don't want to replace one ayatollah with another. You don't want to replace Hitler with Hitler." The Hill. (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md)
- Trump, the same evening. USA Today's video from 19 March 2026 has Trump saying: "No, I'm not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you, but I'm not putting troops." USA Today video. (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md)
- A misquote that spread. Within hours, an account with more than 470,000 views posted "NETANYAHU: "There will be boots on the ground in Iran."" Those words are not in the transcript lines the outlets printed. The accurate quote is "there has to be a ground component." Max Blumenthal's post the same night quoted the phrase correctly and then added his own reading that it meant American troops. Misquote; accurate quote with gloss. (captures: twitter/t13__v147.md, twitter/t13__v151.md)
- Whose ground component? The Times of Israel, 1 April 2026, writing in English, says Israel sending its own troops "has never been seriously considered," and that Netanyahu, saying "There has to be a ground component as well," was "declining to elaborate." Times of Israel. (capture: twitter/t13__v146.md)
- Seven weeks later, a clearer line. On CBS's 60 Minutes, 10 May 2026, Netanyahu said of Iran's enriched uranium: "You go in, and you take it out." He would not say whose forces, but said "what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.'" CBS transcript. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md)
What it shows
Israel's prime minister, speaking for a war he described as America and Israel acting together, said it cannot be finished from the air and needs "a ground component," and declined to say whose. The same evening, Trump said "I'm not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you." Two weeks later, the Times of Israel reported that Israeli troops joining a ground operation "has never been seriously considered," and the Pentagon was preparing weeks of US ground operations. Seven weeks later, Netanyahu said of the uranium "You go in, and you take it out," quoting Trump: "I want to go in there." See Israeli Leaders on a Ground War and Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home.
Check it yourself
Status: Benjamin Netanyahu is alive. Donald Trump is alive.
Research captures: twitter/t13__v147.md, twitter/t13__v146.md, twitter/t13__v145.md, twitter/t13__v151.md
Last Updated: 2026-09-26