Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected a report that Jerusalem is pursuing a 20-year U.S. security-aid package, saying his “direction is the exact opposite” and adding that “it’s time to ensure that Israel is independent,” with an announcement expected “very soon.”

In an interview on Australian journalist Erin Molan’s podcast, Netanyahu addressed the report published minutes earlier and told Molan to “follow what I say, not what is put forward in some leaks that are not true,” framing his policy as a shift toward “greater independence.”

Netanyahu tied the stance to his first term as prime minister, recalling that in 1996, he told Congress Israel would phase out economic aid to build a “high-tech, free-market capitalist economy.”

He said he now wants Israel’s ar

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