Israeli politicians aimed their rhetoric in Iran’s direction on Saturday evening, vowing Tehran would “pay a price” for a drone attack by Tehran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah that targeted the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Islamic Republic sought to downplay its ties to what the premier’s office has said was an attempted assassination.
Three drones were launched from Lebanon in the attack targeting the prime minister’s private residence on Saturday morning. Two were intercepted over Rosh Hanikra and Nahariya, but the third exploded in the central seaside town of Caesarea, known for its high-end villas and Roman ruins.
An Axios report said that the drone hit the prime minister’s house. “This is the first time since the beginning of the war that a target affiliated directly with Netanyahu has been hit,” it reported, without elaboration. The Guardian also said the house was hit and sustained “superficial damage.”
The Kan public broadcaster reported that property tax officials and a gardener had visited Netanyahu’s home after the attack.
After initially confirming that his home had been the target of the drone strike, Netanyahu said in a follow-up statement later on Saturday that “the agents of Iran who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake.”
His words were echoed by many of his government ministers and opposition lawmakers alike, as well as allies further afield, many of whom warned that Iran would be made to regret the actions of its proxy Hezbollah.
The attack was essentially on “the State of Israel and its government symbols,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
Touting Israel’s achievements in dismantling Hamas and degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities, Gallant warned that Israel’s security establishment would “continue to attack any terrorist actors and will strike with force any enemy that harmed or tries to harm the State of Israel.”
“Our actions all over the Middle East have proven this to date, and will prove it in the future as well,” the defense minister continued. “The attempts of the Hezbollah organization to discourage us and prevent us from achieving the goals of the war will not succeed.”
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, meanwhile, said that Iran, “by means of its proxy Hezbollah,” had made “a big mistake.”
He said that there was a difference between Israel’s attacks on terror chiefs — including those of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps — and the attempt on Netanyahu’s life.
Israel has made clear that it seeks to eliminate the heads of terror groups, Ohana said, but Israel is a democratic, sovereign state whose prime minister has now been targeted.
“Doing so was a big mistake and they will pay a price,” he repeated. “In my opinion, incidentally, after they pay the price they’ll be sorry they ever learned to fly a paper plane, never mind a drone.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir similarly expressed support for Netanyahu and called on him to “not give up until complete victory in Gaza, Lebanon and Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and until all our hostages are returned home.”
Meanwhile, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar of Netanyahu’s Likud party accused Hezbollah’s Iranian backers of “crossing a red line,” adding in an X post that “the end of the brutal Iranian regime is closer than ever.”
Iran, for its part, attempted to distance itself from the drone strike and push the blame solely onto Hezbollah, which itself had yet to acknowledge the attack as of early Sunday morning.
Iran’s permanent mission to the UN said in a statement that it had “already responded to the Israeli regime” — an apparent reference to its unprecedented October 1 ballistic missile attack — and that “the action in question has been carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who had earlier said that the drone attack “exposed Iran’s true face and the evil axis it leads,” dismissed outright the UN delegation’s statement.
“The primary proxy, the tentacle Iran created, funded, armed, trained, and now controls in all its operations, is suddenly portrayed as an independent entity,” he wrote on X. “Your lies and false pretenses won’t help you — you are responsible.”
Meanwhile, hawkish opposition lawmaker and Yisrael Beytenu party chair Avigdor Liberman called on the government to “demand that all democratic countries immediately condemn this attempt to harm the prime minister and his family.”
Now “is the time to act and exact a heavy price” from Tehran by targeting the country’s “strategic facilities” and “military and political elite,” he said, adding that the drone attack was “further proof that the Iranian regime has no red lines and its stated goal is the destruction of the ‘Zionist entity.'”
To that end, Israel’s Channel 12 news claimed, without sourcing, that Israel hoped the drone attack aimed at Netanyahu would give “greater legitimacy for a wider range of targets” when Israel finally retaliates for the October 1 attack, in which Tehran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel.
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