'Go home!': Netanyahu heckled during IDF ceremony as he defends war record
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Go home!': Netanyahu heckled during IDF ceremony as he defends war record")
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. Photograph: (AFP)
Benjamin Netanyahu was heckled with shouts of "Go home!" during an IDF graduation ceremony as he defended Israel's military operations and vowed more missions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced heckling on camera during his speech at the IDF's Bahad 1's combat officer graduation ceremony, near Mitzpe Ramon on Thursday. As Netanyahu reflected on his military service and the loss of a friend in combat, a voice from the audience shouted, "Go home!"
Netanyahu was defending the government's record, saying that“Only a blind man would say there are no achievements.” He claimed that operations including “Kalavi” and “Roar of the Lion” were major accomplishments, further adding that there were “more missions to perform” against Iran and Hamas.
"There were years when I heard the conversation, I heard veteran officers turn to new ones and ask them, ' Has anyone been in a collision under fire? But in recent years, these questions have hardly been asked. You arrived at Bahad 1 equipped with operational experience that you acquired in the War of Rebirth. Sometimes it is a painful experience. Before I came here, I was a fighter, and I lost a dear friend," said Netanyahu, when one voice shouted “Go Home” while a supporter shouted, “Go Bibi!"
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The incident took place in front of senior security figures such as Defence Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. This follows a pattern of public heckling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At an official state ceremony at Mount Herzl, Netanyahu was claiming that Israel had returned its hostages, when one heckler shouted, “Some of them died in the tunnel”.
Netanyahu has domestically faced backlash following the signing of the US-Iran MoU. Opposition leader Avigdor Liberman accused the Netanyahu government of pushing Israel towards a “civil war”. In a social media post, he said, “The government is dragging the State of Israel into a civil war - just to cling to power for a few more days.” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also spoke at the ceremony. He said that Israel will maintain its forces in the buffer zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.
