'My wife is a hero': Netanyahu cites 'personal cost' of Israel-Iran war, son's wedding cancelled twice

As the tensions between Iran and Israel escalate, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasised the toll the persistent conflict is taking on his family. The Israeli premier shared the personal cost of war while speaking to the reporters against the backdrop of a missile-struck hospital building in the southern city of Beersheba.

However, Netanyahu’s decision to share his plight amid the ongoing conflict attracted criticism from his critics, who called out the gravity of the situation. While speaking to the reporters,  Netanyahu said that this was not the first time his son Avner’s wedding had needed to be postponed and that Avner’s fiancee was also disappointed. He also mentioned how the conflict is taking a toll on his wife Sara.

“It reminds me of the British people during the Blitz. We are going through a blitz,” Netanyahu said, referring to the wartime Nazi bombing of Britain in which 43,000 civilians died. “There are people who were killed, families who grieved loved ones, I appreciate that,” he went on. The Israeli authorities noted that 25 Israeli civilians have so far been killed in the conflict with Iran.

Meanwhile, Washington-based human rights activists have estimated that the Iranian civilian death toll has surpassed to be 263. “Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt,” Netanyahu said at the Soroka hospital, which was struck on Thursday morning by an Iranian missile, causing light injuries. “This is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.”

Netanyahu receives backlash

The Israeli premier’s son’s wedding was first scheduled for November last year. However, it was postponed due to security reasons. Then it was due to take place on Monday, amid threats of protests from the Israeli opposition.

Meanwhile, condemnation soon started pouring over Netanyahu’s nuptial remarks amid the ongoing war. Anat Angrest, whose son Matan has been held hostage since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, observed that the suffering “didn’t go unnoticed by my family either”.

“I have been in the hellish dungeons of Gaza for 622 days now,” Angrest said in a post on the social media platform X. Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member for the Democrats, called Netanyahu a “borderless narcissist”. “I know many families who were not forced to postpone a wedding, but who will now never celebrate the weddings that were once meant to take place,” Kariv said in a separate statment.

The Israeli politician pointed out how Netanyahu’s wife is notorious for her expensive taste. “The doctors who leave home for night shifts are the heroes,” Kariv said. “The teachers who keep our children together on Zoom and phone calls are the heroes," he said, commenting on Netanyahu’s claim that his wife is a “hero”.