JERUSALEM (The Thursday Times) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Roman Gofman sought to carry out an operation against Iran on the eve of Israel’s October 27 election, but the plan was stopped after the United States was accidentally tipped off, Israeli television reported on Friday.
The report, which did not name its sources, said the operation was not backed by other senior figures in Israel’s security establishment, who feared it could set off a major escalation with Iran and stop the election from taking place as scheduled. It gave no details of what the operation involved.
Plans moved ahead, the report said, until a mistake by an Israeli security operative led to Washington learning of them, and the US moved quickly to stop the operation. The report was broadcast under the limits of Israel’s military censorship.
Denial: Netanyahu’s office rejected the report. “The prime minister himself clarified in real time that an attack before the Israeli elections was not on the agenda,” it said.
Days of warnings: two days before the vote, Israeli television reported an “unprecedented confrontation” between Netanyahu and the military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, over an instruction for unspecified military action that defence officials believed could lead to a flare-up with Iran. Zamir had asked for further discussion and for signed legal authorisation, according to that report. Netanyahu called it “nonsense” and said there had been no fight. On October 19, dozens of Israeli fighter jets and refuelling tankers flew towards Iran’s borders before turning back, in what Israel told Washington was an exercise, US officials said.
Gofman, a major general who served as Netanyahu’s military secretary, took over Mossad in June.
Since the election, in which Netanyahu’s bloc fell to 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, the prime minister has urged President Donald Trump to resume strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections, while opposition leader Yair Golan has warned that Netanyahu could use a new war to stay in power. Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot now has the backing of 67 lawmakers to form the next government.
