Netanyahu: Regime is ‘like a hollowed-out, rotten piece of wood’
19 March 2026, 10:55 pm

Answering the final question at his press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the notion that, in eliminating supreme leader Ali Khamenei, he risks empowering an even harder-line regime leadership.
“It’s important that they know that if they think they’re going to target the world, target the president of the United States, and so on, they themselves are being targeted. That creates a lot of uncertainty. We’ve found that that can have an effect.”
Twenty days into the war, he stresses, “we’re seeing cracks” in the regime… not only in the top command; we’re seeing cracks in the field. You know, it’s sort of like a hollowed-out, rotten piece of wood that’s holding on the outside, but there’s a lot of rot inside. We’re seeing some defections.”
He adds that there are signs of “fear and trepidation in the IRGC units that are manning the ballistic missiles. You know why? Because they’re afraid to die. They’re not all suicidal. In fact, most of them are not.”
“Yes, the regime could change,” he repeats. “Is it guaranteed? No. And is it up to the Iranian people in the final accounting to make use of the conditions that we’re doing it.”
“They’re very brave, by the way,” he says of the Iranian people. “I don’t come and criticize them in any way… They’ve suffered enormously. And the question is, will we have a meeting ground between the weakening of the regime and the rising of the people in many ways that could develop? We’ll see.”
He hails the depiction of Israel as a “model ally” of America, set against “all the vilifications that are leveled at Israel — ‘Israel is sponging off America’ and all that. No, it’s not. It’s not. Israel is a brave country, a resolute country, with an incredible army, incredible soldiers, incredible courage, and we’re fighting alongside the United States when the chips are down… We’re fighting for a common goal.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-regime-is-like-a-hollowed-out-rotten-piece-of-wood/