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Netanyahu on Camera: From Iraq in 2002 to "You Go In, and You Take It Out"

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED. Every quote on this page and its sub-pages is from an official record, a network transcript, an Israeli outlet's report, or a named outlet's report of the interview, unless marked otherwise.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel's prime minister for most of the last thirty years. Americans who only know that "the bombing of Iran is going on" have usually never seen him speak to Americans about their wars. He has done it many times, on camera, and the clips are easy to find. Together they show a long, consistent effort to bring American military power into Israel's fight with Iran, ending, in 2026, with a call for "a ground component" that Israel's own press said would not be Israeli.

The record in five lines.

  • 2002: Before the U.S. Congress, he promised that taking out Saddam Hussein would have "enormous positive reverberations," and said the question in Iran was "not ... whether you'd like to see a regime change in Iran but how to achieve it." Americans fought that war.
  • June 2025: Israel asked the Trump administration to join the war on Iran (Axios; a U.S. official confirmed it). Haaretz headlined: "For the First Time Ever, Israel Is Asking America to Fight Alongside It – or for It." Nine days later, American bombers struck Fordow.
  • March 2026: "There has to be a ground component as well." He would not say whose. The Times of Israel explained why Israeli boots would stay "closer to home."
  • May 2026: Asked how Iran's uranium would be removed: "You go in, and you take it out." With whose forces? "What President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.'"
  • June 2026: "I didn't ask for permission; I simply informed him of our plan."

He has not been recorded saying the literal words "send American soldiers into Iran." He has been recorded saying everything short of them.

2002: "I guarantee you"​

Testifying to a House committee as a private citizen in September 2002, Netanyahu urged the Iraq war ("I think the choice of Iraq is a good choice, it's the right choice") and named Iran as the next regime-change question. About 4,400 Americans died in Iraq. In 2015 John Kerry reminded Congress that Netanyahu had been "profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq."

Read more: Netanyahu Before Congress, 2002

2001 to 2025: what he says about America and American boots​

To Israelis in 2001, on a recording later broadcast: "America is a thing you can move very easily." To Congress in 2024: "Our battle is your battle," and Israel helps "keep American boots off the ground." In 2019 his office posted, then deleted, a line about "the common interest of war with Iran." In July 2025 he mocked predictions of "Boots on the ground. All this nonsense."

Read more: What Netanyahu Says About American Boots

June 2025: Israel asks America to join​

"Israel has asked the Trump administration over the past 48 hours to join the war with Iran," Axios reported from two Israeli officials; Israel lacked the bunker-busters and bombers to destroy Fordow. Israel's ambassador said the operation "has to be completed with the elimination of Fordow." The Times of Israel: "A US official confirmed Israel's request." Netanyahu, to Americans: "I understand 'America First'. I don't understand 'America Dead'." After the B-2 strikes: "America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on Earth could do."

Read more: June 2025: Israel Asks the U.S. to Join

August 2025: "Very much" — Greater Israel on Israeli TV​

"Greater Israel" means a larger Israel than the one the world recognizes: in its narrow sense, Israel plus the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights; in its widest, biblical sense, land "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). On August 12, 2025, the interviewer on the Israeli channel i24NEWS handed Netanyahu an amulet with what he called "a map of the Promised Land" and asked whether he felt connected to that vision. According to the Times of Israel, he answered "Very much," and said he was on "a historic and spiritual mission." The Times of Israel reported the exchange was cut from the channel's shorter English and Hebrew YouTube versions (Times of Israel, August 12, 2025). Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority condemned it.

Read more: Netanyahu's "Very Much" and the Nile to the Euphrates

March 2026: "There has to be a ground component"​

"You can't do revolutions from the air ... 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." Haaretz: "Netanyahu Says a Revolution in Iran Requires a Ground Offensive." The Times of Israel, April 1: "As US weighs putting troops in Iran, realities on ground keep Israeli boots closer to home."

Read more: March 2026: The Ground Component

May 2026: "You go in, and you take it out"​

On CBS's 60 Minutes, Major Garrett asked: "With what? Special Forces from Israel, Special Forces from the United States ...?" Netanyahu: "I'm not gonna talk about military means, but the pres-- what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.'" Four days later the CENTCOM commander declined, in the Senate, to say whether seizing that uranium would need American boots on the ground. In July the New York Post reported a plan for "thousands of ground troops" to do it.

Read more: 60 Minutes: "You Go In, and You Take It Out"

2026: round two, a joint war, and "I didn't ask for permission"​

December 2025: he discussed "a 'round 2' of strikes" with Trump (Axios). January 2026: he asked Trump to wait, because Israel "was not fully prepared to handle Iranian retaliation without strong American support" (Washington Post, as summarized). February 28: "Israel and the United States launched a joint campaign." June 24: "I didn't ask for permission; I simply informed him of our plan." Former Secretary of State John Kerry: "[Netanyahu] wanted us to strike." Historian Avi Shlaim: "for the last 30 years he has been advocating a joint American-Israeli strike against Iran."

Read more: 2026: Round Two and "I Didn't Ask for Permission"

What a citizen can check​

  • Read the 2002 hearing record and compare the "guarantee" to what happened in Iraq.
  • Read the full CBS transcript of the May 2026 interview, not only the aired cut. Notice who he says wants to "go in."
  • Put three lines side by side: 2024, "we also help keep American boots off the ground"; March 2026, "there has to be a ground component"; May 2026, "You go in, and you take it out." Then read the Times of Israel on whose boots stay home.

Go deeper​

Status: Benjamin Netanyahu is alive. John Kerry, Avi Shlaim, Major Garrett, and Aluf Benn are alive.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t59__v697.md through twitter/t59__v708.md.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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