Netanyahu's son was target of Iranian assassination plot in Florida — report

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 35-year-old son Yair was the target of an Iranian assassination plot while he was living in Florida, US outlet Newsmax reported on Wednesday, citing a US law enforcement source.

The report came a day after Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 in a phone interview that “Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons.”

He did not say which of his two sons was the target, or provide any further details on the plot. But according to the source that spoke to Newsmax, Israeli intelligence learned in December 2025 that Iran was planning to kill Yair in Florida, where he had spent much of his time in recent years.

Intelligence agencies believed that Iranian agents were “on the ground” in the Miami area conducting surveillance of the younger Netanyahu’s movements, according to the report.

Yair Netanyahu was told to immediately leave Florida and return to Israel, the report said, adding that he did so without packing his belongings and has been living in Israel ever since.

Yair Netanyahu had spent much of the previous several years living in the Miami area, where his reportedly luxurious lifestyle and the state-funded security provided to him repeatedly drew public attention in Israel.

His extended stay abroad drew criticism after the outbreak of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, with critics questioning why the prime minister’s son remained overseas while hundreds of thousands of Israelis were serving in the military reserves.

Netanyahu defended the security provided to his sons in his Channel 14 interview, saying that without it, would-be assassins “would succeed.”

Yair Netanyahu had long maintained a prominent and often combative presence on social media, where he has frequently weighed in on Israeli politics and attacked his father’s political opponents, government critics and members of the media.

The firebrand right-wing activist and podcaster has also been associated with far-right European and American politicians and public figures.

In April 2023, Israeli media reported that Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu had asked their son to stop posting on social media and communicating directly with ministers and lawmakers amid accusations that he was inflaming political tensions.

Later that year, Yair liked a social media post accusing then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi of carrying out a “military coup” on October 7 by allegedly withholding advance knowledge of Hamas’s attack from the prime minister.