A senior political official on Monday flatly rejected reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to strike Iran on the eve of the election, calling the claims “complete fake news” in a conversation with Yinon Magal.
“The reports that Netanyahu wanted to attack Iran before the election are complete fake news. There was no such thing, the Americans didn’t stop him, and there was no ‘confrontation with the Chief of Staff’—just fabrications,” the official said. Alongside the categorical denial, the official clarified that what did take place was a substantive discussion about Israel’s response in the event it was attacked by Iran or one of its proxies.
1+The clarification follows earlier comments by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who forcefully rejected reports of gaps between the political echelon and the IDF, and made clear that Israel never intended to initiate an attack on Tehran before the Knesset election. Katz emphasized that coordination between the prime minister, the Defense Ministry, and the IDF is complete: “The reports about gaps between the political echelon and the IDF on the Iran issue are false and completely untrue. Since I took office as defense minister, the coordination between the prime minister and me with the IDF on Iran has been complete—with unprecedented historic achievements for the security of the State of Israel. This is the only consideration—and it will remain so in the future.”
1+Katz stated unequivocally: “I state that there was no intention by Israel to initiate an attack on Iran before the election in Israel—when we made clear that if Iran attacks Israel we will respond with great force, and all the reports on the matter are completely false.” The defense minister sharply attacked opposition figures who used these reports to attack the government: “The attempt by opposition people to exploit these reports to attack the prime minister and me and cast aspersions on our considerations—at a time when we are prevented for obvious reasons from addressing the details of the Iranian issue—is shameful and irresponsible. We will overcome this too.”
The forceful denials come after opposition figures rushed to use the reports to attack the prime minister. Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman even appealed to the Attorney General demanding she open a criminal investigation against Netanyahu on charges of treason, claiming the prime minister is pressuring senior security officials to bring about escalation before election day.