Netanyahu on US pressure: 'You bow your head, you're dead' | Exclusive

Six days before Israel's October 27 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits down with The Jerusalem Post at 2:14 a.m. on his 77th birthday. Netanyahu says Israeli military intelligence and the Mossad have warned that Iran and its proxies are weighing ways to influence the vote. He describes Operations Rising Lion and Roaring Lion as having done "ninety percent of the job" against Tehran's nuclear and missile programs, and he warns that the regime is trying to rebuild them. The prime minister addresses President Trump's surprise endorsement, which he says he did not know was coming, and why Vice President JD Vance declined to offer one. On pressure from a potentially less friendly Washington, he is blunt: "If you bow your head, you're dead." Netanyahu also lays out the four principles he says any coalition partner must accept, starting with no Palestinian state. He calls settler vigilantism "wrong" and damaging to Israel abroad. He repeats his claim that his criminal trial has collapsed and calls for an investigation of the officials who led it. He traces Qatar's role in what he calls the vilification of Israel to a warning from his late father, historian Benzion Netanyahu, that Jews who are "prominent and weak" invite antisemitism when societies change. He also explains why he sees the race as an even tie, and why he says a right-wing party falling below the electoral threshold, as happened in 1992, could decide the outcome. His opponents, including main rival Gadi Eisenkot, reject his characterizations of them, and this interview presents the prime minister's case in his own words. Chapters: 00:00 - Netanyahu on intelligence warnings of Iranian election interference 04:35 - Trump's endorsement and "finishing the job" on Iran's nuclear program 09:25 - JD Vance, US pressure and expanding the Abraham Accords 11:50 - Settler violence, Ambassador Huckabee and vigilantism in the West Bank 14:15 - Eisenkot, the Arab parties, his trial and four coalition principles 19:00 - Qatar, antisemitism and his father's warning about Jewish history 23:45 - An "even tie," Ofer Winter's party and the threshold lesson of 1992 ________________ Sign up for our newsletters: https://linkinbio.jpost.com/newsletters More from The Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJerusalemPost Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jerusalem_Post Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejerusalem_post