The Israeli leader hid the medical report for two months amid the war with Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he underwent treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, admitting that he delayed publication of the medical report for two months during the war with Iran.
According to Netanyahu’s annual medical report published on Friday, the tumour was found at a “very early stage,” with no spread or metastases, and the problem has now been fully treated. Hadassah Hospital oncology chief Aharon Popovtser said follow-up imaging and blood tests showed that “the disease has disappeared.”
Netanyahu said he had asked for the information to be withheld from the public so it would not be released “at the height of the war” against Iran and fuel what he called “more false propaganda against Israel.”
Netanyahu has insisted that physicians told him the condition was minor and common for men his age, and that he could either monitor it or treat it immediately.
“You already know me. When I’m given information in time about a potential danger, I want to address it immediately. This is true on the national level and also on the personal level,” he wrote in a post on X.
The 76-year-old leader previously underwent surgery for an enlarged benign prostate in 2024 and had since been under routine monitoring, during which the tumour was discovered. It remains unclear exactly when the treatment took place, and his office said the rest of the medical report showed him to be in good health.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 15, 2026
The disclosure comes after weeks of speculation about Netanyahu’s health after he missed multiple consecutive security cabinet meetings during the early phase of the US-Israel war with Iran.
In March, he released a bizarre video of himself waving his hands during a visit to a Jerusalem cafe in an apparent effort to quash rumors that recent videos of his public appearances were AI-generated.
