Misleadingly edited Netanyahu interview omits warning of 'Taliban takeover of Pakistan'

After Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran in June 2025, a clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed him saying the next step would be to strip Pakistan of its nuclear arsenal. The clip, taken from an interview conducted in 2011, omits Netanyahu clarifying that nuclear weapons should not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Taliban in the event of a "takeover of Pakistan".

"After Iran is Pakistan, Netanyahu’s threat,"  reads the Urdu-language caption of a video shared on Facebook on June 14, 2025.

The clip, shared a day after Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that killed top military commanders and scientists linked to its nuclear programme, shows Netanyahu being interviewed.

"I said that the greatest mission that we have is to prevent a militant Islamic regime from meeting up with nuclear weapons or from nuclear weapons meeting up with a militant Islamic regime," Netanyahu says in the clip.

He then appears to add: "The first is called Iran. The second is called Pakistan. Because if these radical regimes have nuclear weapons, they will not obey the rules that have been obeyed in the last almost seven decades."

Israel said the aim of its bombing campaign in Iran was to keep the Islamic republic from developing an atomic weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied (archived link). Iran responded with ballistic missile attacks on Israeli cities.

Pakistan, which is the only Islamic country with nuclear weapons, "strongly condemned" the Israeli strikes on its neighbour Iran (archived link).

Iran and Israel traded fire for 12 days before a US-proposed ceasefire brought the conflict to an end. Tehran says the Israeli campaign killed 1,060 people, while Israeli officials said the retaliatory Iranian drone and missile barrages killed at least 28 people.

The same clip was also shared elsewhere on Facebook.

"Inshallah (God willing) Pakistan will be the cause of Israel's destruction Inshallah," read a comment on one of the posts.

Another said: "Allah will protect Pakistan and Iran."

The circulating clip, however, has been misleadingly edited.

Interview from 2011

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to the full interview, which was posted on the YouTube channel of Israeli broadcaster Channel 2 on March 31, 2011 (archived link).

The video is titled, "A World View Interview with Benjamin Netanyahu".

"Channel 2 and YouTube bring you a special interview with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, in which citizens ask questions about the peace process, unrest in the Middle East, and more," reads its description.

The falsely shared clip has been lifted from its 25:40 mark, after Netanyahu is asked: "What is the biggest problem facing the next generation and what should we do to solve it today?" (archived link).

His response was misleadingly edited to omit a clarification he makes after mentioning Pakistan.

"The first is called Iran, the second is called Pakistan, or more specifically a Taliban takeover of Pakistan," he says.

His full remarks are also reflected in a transcript of the interview available on the official Israel Prime Minister's Office website (archived link).

There have been no official reports of Netanyahu issuing any warning or threat against Pakistan since the start of the conflict with Iran.

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Iran-Israel war here.