Clip shows a sometimes-agitated Netanyahu practicing for press conference
Channel 13 news on Monday aired what it said was an clip accidentally transmitted to it of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu practicing for his press conference held on Sunday night.
The network said Netanyahu held the rehearsal of his statement shortly before the media was invited in, and that it appeared to have accidentally reached their feed.
In the video aired by the network, Netanyahu moves through the first lines of his speech, stopping repeatedly to ask questions and give out instructions to aides about the state of the room, the air conditioning, the sound system, word-choices in the text of his speech on the prompter and more.
At times the premier seems agitated and impatient as he reviews the best way to open his speech.
“Wow, what’s that distance, are you crazy?” he says as he walks in. It’s not clear what he’s referring to, though it may be the teleprompter. “Move closer, what is this.”
“Close the door, shut down the AC immediately,” he says.
“They’ll hear it won’t they? They’ll hear it,” he asks people off-camera, possibly referring to members of the media waiting outside.
“How’s the picture?” he wonders at one point.
תיעוד נדיר: החזרה של ראש הממשלה נתניהו לקראת מסיבת העיתונאים אתמול שודרה בטעות pic.twitter.com/wejKxE45db
— יענקי כהן | Yanki Coen (@yankicoen) April 1, 2024
Starting his preparation, the premier reads “Citizens of Israel, good evening,” before stopping and asking: “Why good evening? Well, never mind.” He then tries the line out in a few ways before appearing to be satisfied.
He goes on to praise the IDF’s weeks-long operation against terror operatives at Shifa Hospital in Gaza, before stopping to ask the prompter operator why the word “exemplary” is not in the text. Apparently losing patience, he moves on, adlibbing that “the operation was exemplary.”
“This is not what a medical center looks like,” he then declares, before repeating the line, but this time adopting a more derisive tone. “This is not what a medical center looks like. This is what a terrorist center looks like.”
The recording stops there.