Israeli Iran Expert Beni Sabti At Centre Of Viral 'Another Pearl Harbor Or 9/11' Claim That Remains Unverified

A social media post claiming that an Israeli security researcher urged America to welcome 'another Pearl Harbor or 9/11' has spread rapidly online, yet its origin remains unverified.

The remark has been attributed to Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, and began circulating on X around 20 June 2026.

Sabti reportedly edited and then removed the post, and no major Israeli or international outlet has independently confirmed what it said.

Who Beni Sabti Is And Why The Attribution Matters

Sabti is a recognised commentator on Iranian affairs, and his record gives any statement attributed to him unusual weight. According to his official INSS profile, he was born in Iran in 1972, escaped to Israel in 1987, and spent decades in IDF intelligence before joining the think tank as an Iran researcher.

He led the creation of the IDF Spokesperson's Persian-language platforms, which were built to speak directly to ordinary Iranians, holds a master's degree from Bar-Ilan University, and later advised the Apple TV series 'Tehran'. The Times of Israel and other outlets regularly feature him as a leading voice on the Iranian regime.

His documented public positions sit awkwardly beside the viral quote. In a 2024 interview with The Jerusalem Post, Sabti argued that 'words are more important than deeds, missiles and iron', and he repeatedly drew a line between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people.

He framed his work as an attempt to build a bridge with Iranians rather than to invite catastrophe, and he has described the regime, not ordinary citizens, as the source of hostility towards Israel. That record does not prove what he did or did not post this month, though it is the context any fair reading has to weigh.

What The Viral Post Claimed

The wording of the alleged post is not consistent across the accounts that shared it. One version has Sabti saying the United States 'maybe needs another Pearl Harbor or 9/11' to remember who its real enemies and friends are, while another renders the ending as 'to realise that Israel is their true friend'.

Sabti's current X post reads: 'Good luck for USA to handle Iran regime terrorists. I hope for USA administration to remember who is the enemy and who is the friend.' An edit note displayed by X under the post says the original version stated: 'Maybe USA needs another Pearl Harbor or 9/11 to remember who is the enemy and who is the friend.'

The post was later changed to remove the references to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The edited version still criticises the US administration's approach to Iran and says Washington should remember 'who is the enemy and who is the friend'.

The claim gained traction through the aggregator account of Mario Nawfal and similar pages, alongside a Russian-state-linked outlet and fringe American sites. Those accounts also reported that Sabti quickly tried to walk the statement back, saying he did not wish for an attack while calling Washington's current approach dangerously naïve.

Some posts claimed his earlier edits stayed visible in the platform's edit history, which is how the walk-back narrative emerged. None of that has been verified through Sabti directly or through INSS, and because the post was reportedly deleted, the original text could not be retrieved and checked against these competing accounts.

A Combustible Phrase In A Tense Moment For Allies

The remark surfaced during a period of visible strain between parts of the Israeli security community and the Trump administration over Iran policy, following the recent confrontation involving Israel, Iran and the United States.

Invoking Pearl Harbor or 9/11 is incendiary in American discourse, since both attacks killed thousands and both remain bound up with national mourning. Calls for a 'new Pearl Harbor' carry a long and contested history in US political argument, which is partly why the phrase detonates so quickly when it is attached to an ally's analyst.

For a newsroom, the responsible course is to separate three things: a real and identifiable person, a quote that is circulating widely, and the authenticity of that quote, which is still unproven. The first two are established. The third is not, and treating an edited, deleted and unverified post as a confirmed statement would repeat the very error that fuels viral misinformation.

Until the original surfaces and is authenticated, the honest description is also the simplest one: a provocative quote, shared by many, and proven by none.