Benjamin Netanyahu reveals prostate cancer treatment, says he hid diagnosis during Iran war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Friday that he had recently undergone treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, adding that he kept the diagnosis private amid the war with Iran. Netanyahu said he delayed the release of his annual medical report to block Iran from spreading “more false propaganda against Israel.” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X that he requested to delay the publication of his medical report by two months so that it would not be released at the height of the war, in order not to allow the Iranian terror regime to spread even more false propaganda against Israel. The Israeli leader said the treatment “removed the problem and left no trace of it” and he was now in “excellent physical condition.” The director of the Sharett Oncology Institute at Hadassah Medical Center, Aron Popovtzer, said in a video statement that a routine medical examination following Netanyahu’s December 2024 prostate removal surgery had uncovered a 0.35-inch, early stage adenocarcinoma. Popovtzer said that Netanyahu had undergone radiation treatment “two and a half months ago,” ahead of the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, and that he had recently undergone a medical test that found the cancer had “disappeared.” Netanyahu, 76, added that the tumor was “incredibly common among men my age,” and that, upon examination, “it turned out to be a very early stage of a malignant tumor, with no spread or metastases whatsoever.” An annual health report dated April 20, 2026, stated that Netanyahu first underwent surgery on December 29, 2024, to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. That procedure was reported to have been a success, without any complications. A routine follow-up revealed a suspicious lesion in the prostate, the report says. Netanyahu declared himself cancer-free after hiding the diagnosis during the Iran war, saying the report was delayed for two months to avoid giving Iran an opportunity to exploit his medical condition for propaganda during the conflict. He emphasized that with the conflict now held to an indefinite ceasefire, he has recovered from treatment and is “in excellent condition.” Netanyahu had previously recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe in March to refute rumors circulating on social media and aired on Iranian state media that claimed he had died. In a statement on social media, he said he had been advised he could undergo treatment to “remove the problem,” or live with it. “You already know me. When I’m given information in time about a potential danger, I want to address it immediately,” he said. “This is true on the national level and also on the personal level. That’s what I did.”
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