Ben Gvir defends Iran war as ‘absolute necessity’ at site of Haifa strike

By Sam Sokol 6 April 2026, 2:12 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Ben Gvir at the site of a missile impact in Haifa, April 6, 2026. (Courtesy Otzma Yehudit)

Speaking at the site of yesterday’s Iranian ballistic strike on a residential building in Haifa, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir defends the government’s handling of the war against Iran, calling the conflict an “absolute necessity” and a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to prevent the “Nazi regime” in Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“There are those looking for various ‘exit strategies’ [but] I am in favor of a victory strategy. We are defeating the Iranians, our IDF is doing wonderful work,” he says, praising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz alongside the defense and intelligence establishments, police and fire service.

“If the Iranians have a nuclear weapon, we will be in far more difficult arenas than this. I am proud that we embarked on this campaign…and we must continue to crush the Iranians, both in Lebanon and in Gaza,” he says, slamming the High Court of Justice for allowing public anti-war protests.

Ben Gvir’s comments about exit strategies appear to be a response to opposition politicians who have criticized the government’s prosecution of the war.

This morning, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that while the IDF is conducting itself well, “Netanyahu has failed in all the goals of the war.”

While Netanyahu promised a decisive victory, that means “regime change, eliminating the nuclear threat, removing the ballistic threat [and] crushing Hezbollah” and “ending the war at a regional conference in Riyadh with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt, which defines a military and economic alliance against Iran” as well as “a political agreement with the Lebanese government that defines conditions for peace and a joint struggle against Hezbollah,” Lapid said.

“None of this is happening,” he continued, adding that during wartime, “it is permissible and desirable to doubt, especially if the war is going in a bad, sloppy, unplanned direction. Anyone who ran to a shelter twice in the night has earned the right to ask why the goals have not been achieved.”