Israeli Military Chief Resisted Netanyahu's Iran Attack Plan: NYT
The New York Times reports Netanyahu sought an Iran strike before Israel's Oct. 27 vote, but military chief Eyal Zamir objected to its timing and urgency.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed for a new airstrike on Iran in the weeks before Tuesday's national election, but Israel's military chief resisted the proposal, questioning its urgency and its timing, The New York Times reported Monday.
The newspaper, in reporting by David M. Halbfinger, Ronen Bergman, Natan Odenheimer, Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman, cited three senior Israeli defense officials and three other people briefed on the deliberations. It said Netanyahu had also recently sought a separate action against Iran that would fall short of an overt military strike.
The nature of that possible action was not disclosed.
According to an Israeli official and another person briefed on the matter, military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir feared it could provoke an Iranian attack on Israel.
Netanyahu's reasons for pressing for action before the election were not established, and his spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zamir did not oppose military action against Iran in principle, the newspaper reported.
Rather, he considered an operation before the election unnecessary and worried that the government would struggle to justify its timing.
The Israeli air force commander, Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler, also raised concerns over the political sensitivity of such a decision.
In a statement quoted by the Times, Israel's military said operational decisions rested on "security considerations" and its responsibilities as a national institution.
The officials who described the internal disagreements spoke anonymously because they lacked authorization to discuss the deliberations publicly.
The reported dispute places military decision-making under scrutiny at a sensitive political moment.
A return to war before the election could disrupt voting, while renewed fighting afterward could complicate efforts by Netanyahu's opponents to form a governing coalition, according to the officials and people interviewed by the newspaper.
Those consequences remain possibilities, not established intentions.
The reports, first aired by Israel's Channel 12, drew a sharp response from opposition politician Avigdor Liberman, a former defense and foreign minister.
He called on the attorney general to investigate whether Netanyahu had committed treason, accusing him of contemplating war for electoral purposes. No finding of wrongdoing was reported.
Netanyahu, 77, has repeatedly warned that Iran poses an existential danger to Israel.
Over the weekend, he posted an AI-generated image depicting a nuclear mushroom cloud above Tel Aviv and said in a television interview that the election concerned "Israel's existence." He has also suggested that Iran might attack to disrupt the vote.
Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons, although it has repeatedly threatened Israel. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear arms.
Netanyahu has said he would destroy Iran's nuclear program and bring down its government, even as he has previously claimed that Israeli operations had already destroyed that program.
The prime minister has also warned Israelis that the country could lose billions of dollars in American military assistance and face international banking restrictions.
His suggestion that cryptocurrency could help Israel withstand such sanctions drew an unusual rebuke from the Bank of Israel, which said the technology would not shield the economy from their effects.
His principal challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, has made Israel's security and political direction central to his campaign.
Eisenkot has pledged to investigate the government's failure to prevent the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, end Hamas rule in Gaza within 18 months and extend military-service obligations to Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox allies.
The election on Tuesday, Oct. 27, will shape whether Netanyahu can retain power or his opponents have an opportunity to assemble a new government.
The reported disagreements have not established that any operation against Iran was authorized, and the outcome of the discussions remains unclear.