“Israel’s” War Cabinet Divided over Iran’s Response

Given several reports that the US is urging caution and that US President Joe Biden himself urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “think carefully and strategically,” the war cabinet suspended its discussions, but is expected to reconvene in short order, Channel 12 News reported.

The “Israel Hayom” daily newspaper cited, however, an Israeli official as stating that “there will be a response,” while the NBC network quoted an official source in the entity’s PM office as saying that while a decision has yet to be made, “the army will need to present options” and that “it is clear that ‘Israel’ will respond.”

“Israeli” officials cited by Reuters said that the war cabinet favors a retaliation against Iran, but is divided over the timing and scale of any such response.

The “Israeli” war cabinet discussions come less than 24 hours after Iran launched an unprecedented operation against “Israel” in which it fired some 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at “Israel” on Saturday night, 99% of which were successfully intercepted.

According to multiple Hebrew media reports, in light of this massive salvo, “Israeli” war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz and his “National Unity” party colleague Gadi Eisenkot, an observer in the war cabinet, both proposed striking back at Iran while the Iranian attack was still underway.

This suggestion was firmly opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, War Minister Yoav Gallant, “Israeli” Chief Herzi Halevi, and others, Channel 12 news reported, in part because of the strain of undertaking simultaneous action, when the IAF was focused on intercepting Iran’s incoming missiles and drones.

Bibi’s denied the report, saying “the opposite was true,” although Channel 12 said it stood by the story, saying it had been confirmed by four sources.