Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday morning doubled down on his controversial warning of a potential Iranian attack, telling national broadcaster Kan that “the Iranians are determined to take revenge” and that people should remain “in close proximity” to protected spaces.
“We are certain that regardless of the negotiations, the Iranians are determined to take revenge. All they are doing right now is to take revenge on the State of Israel,” Liberman stated, repeating the recommendation for members of the public to stay near shelters.
The comments from Liberman, known as a straight-talking hawk, who previously served as defense minister, caught the public by surprise, with no similar cautions coming from defense officials.
Israeli apartments built since the first Gulf War have been constructed with a reinforced and protected room known in Hebrew as a Mamad. Most public buildings also have bomb shelters or protected areas.
Liberman claimed that his warnings had been vindicated by the IDF Homefront Command, which released guidelines prior to this week’s Sukkot holiday, instructing the public in how to act if warning sirens go off while they are outside in their Sukkot or on trips.
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Pushing back against Liberman, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office released a statement, attributed to a “senior security source,” stating that Liberman was “drifting in space like a UFO detached from its mothership — completely cut off from any connection or information, spewing uncontrolled gibberish.”
Workers tear down a high-rise residential building in Be’er Sheva, which was hit and severely damaged by an Iranian missile in June 2025. (Tsafrir Abayov/FLASH90)
“His attempt to scare the Israeli public about Iran in order to draw attention to himself, as part of the rivalry among opposition leaders, is both pitiful and worrying,” the statement asserted.
In response, Liberman tweeted a screenshot of an article about a 2016 warning about a potential Hamas attack he had delivered to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, insisting that “if the mothership had listened to the ‘UFO’ we wouldn’t have gotten the October 7 massacre.”
Liberman’s warning about Iran was also dismissed by cabinet minister Ze’ev Elkin, who told Kan that while “Iran is trying to reassert its strength” and “everything is possible…there is no concrete alert about an attack.”
Last Friday, Liberman warned that Israelis should stay close to a shelter over the upcoming Sukkot holiday, which started on Monday evening, because Iran was quickly recuperating from the two countries’ June war and preparing to launch a surprise attack.
The IDF Home Front Command clarified that there were no changes to its guidelines, and defense officials reportedly slammed the hawkish MK’s comments as irresponsible.
Writing on X, Liberman said, “Whoever thinks the conflict with Iran is over is misled and misleading.”
A man rides his motorcycle past a deactivated Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile in front of a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran’s Bahrestan Square on September 27, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
“The Iranians are already hard at work, strengthening their defenses and military capabilities by the day. They are back at work at the nuclear sites,” wrote Liberman.
“It’s not for nothing that leading countries have reinstated the ‘snapback’ sanctions mechanism on the Iranian regime,” he added, referring to UN sanctions that were recently reimposed on Iran after Britain, France and Germany triggered a mechanism included in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“It seems like this time, the Iranians are trying to surprise us,” wrote Liberman, urging Israelis to celebrate cautiously: “Spend time with family and friends, but be careful and close to protected spaces.”
Liberman, who is head of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, has assailed the US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, saying the deal would lead to another war in two to three years under worse conditions for Israel. He also said in July that Iran was “obsessed” with revenge and that Israel should preempt it.
The June war started with Israel’s June 13 opening strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, missile production sites and military leadership. Iran responded with drone launches and deadly ballistic missile strikes that wreaked havoc in Israeli cities. The war ended on June 24, two days after the US struck three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to Israel’s destruction, publicly denies seeking nuclear arms, but has enriched uranium to a level beyond what is needed for civilian use, and a short step away from weapons-grade.
People rest as they take shelter in an underground parking garage as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Liberman’s warnings have not been picked up by any other opposition party leaders, with spokespeople for multiple opposition parties ignoring requests for comment on the matter.
One opposition spokesman who did reply indicated that there was no desire to address the issue.
But while one opposition MK, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Liberman was “stirring up public hysteria.” Yisrael Beytenu MK Evgeny Sova told The Times of Israel that “the Iranians are doing everything to restore their missile production capabilities” and that because the Iranians “fear an Israeli preemptive strike, they might decide to strike first.”
“That’s the real danger,” he said during an interview prior to Sukkot, qualifying Liberman’s remarks by noting he had no concrete intelligence and that “everything he says now is based on open sources and his own understanding and analysis” and arguing that Israelis “must not be complacent.”
Asked about claims that Liberman was creating a panic, Sova replied his party’s leader “simply says what he thinks, based on knowledge and logic” and is less concerned with harming his credibility than “to tell the truth as he understands it.”
“It’s better people accuse you of causing panic than accuse you later of silence,” he added.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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