Netanyahu reportedly pressured military to attack Iran as elections approach | Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu has resorted to increasingly alarmist rhetoric and reportedly pressured the Israeli military to take action against Iran as his far-right coalition lags in polls ahead of Tuesday’s close election.

Israel’s prime minister posted an AI-generated image of a nuclear mushroom cloud destroying Tel Aviv, telling Israeli voters to choose it or risk nuclear annihilation.

“Anyone who cares about their own physical existence, that of their family and loved ones should have a trembling hand before voting for (the opposition),” he wrote in a social media post about Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the prime minister and the armed forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, clashed in recent days over a directive to the military that could “potentially trigger an immediate conflagration with Iran at a very sensitive time,” by causing a miscalculation on Iran’s part.

Zamir reportedly requested that the directive, the details of which were not specified, be presented to him in writing.

Netanyahu denied this information and the Defense Ministry subsequently denied any intention to carry out military operations against Iran.

However, on Monday, CNN reported that Netanyahu had tried to convince Donald Trump to launch a new attack on Iran in recent weeks, renewing the war the two men started in February.

The report, confirming an earlier Financial Times article, said Trump had ruled out any such action ahead of next week’s US congressional elections.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement on Monday that did not go so far as to deny the reports appearing in the press. He simply insisted that his decisions were based exclusively on “security, professional, objective and national considerations”.

Netanyahu’s warnings contrast sharply with his triumphalism in the wake of the wars against Iran launched last year and this spring.

In March, Netanyahu said Israeli and U.S. strikes had destroyed Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and produce ballistic missiles, and in 2025 he claimed a “historic victory” over Iran that would last for generations.

Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the opposition bloc and Netanyahu’s most likely challenger for prime minister, expressed confidence in Zamir. “We will not allow the IDF to be turned into a pawn in Netanyahu’s survival campaign,” said Eisenkot, a retired general.

Most polls suggest the largely center-right opposition bloc led by Eisenkot is poised to win more seats in the Israeli Knesset than the Netanyahu coalition, but neither will be able to muster the 61 seats needed for a majority government.

The opposition would most likely be able to muster a majority and oust Netanyahu in coalition with parties representing Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, about a fifth of the population. But conservatives in the Eisenkot bloc have ruled out such a coalition, raising the prospect of a minority government, another round of elections and a possible resurgence of Netanyahu.

As the election approached, Netanyahu presented the country’s choice as existential. He told Channel 14, which has been his main cheerleader in the Israeli media: “There is only one fundamental problem here: our existence. »

He described the opposition bloc as the “left” allied with the Palestinians and the country’s enemies. “We see what is happening in Europe. The alliance between the left and Islam could destroy the State of Israel,” he said.

The main opposition parties are right- or center-right, sharing Netanyahu’s categorical opposition to Palestinian statehood and having largely supported the war in Gaza. Some opposition leaders have ruled out any form of political alliance with Israeli Palestinian parties, which could emerge from the elections holding the balance of power in the Knesset. Palestinians in the occupied territories do not have the right to vote.

The opposition bloc is further united by its shared antipathy toward Netanyahu, who has dominated Israel’s political scene for the past three decades and has turned increasingly toward authoritarianism, seeking to limit the independence of the judiciary and turn the police and the Shin Bet internal security service into political tools.

The prime minister is also in the middle of a corruption trial, and legal risks could increase if he loses control of power.

In the final stages of the campaign, Netanyahu also highlighted the clear support he enjoys from Donald Trump, who reiterated his support in a social media post on Sunday, saying: “When you go to the polls, remember that Bibi has been an exceptional warrior prime minister!

Israeli media outlet Walla News reported that this repeated support was the result of relentless pressure from Netanyahu’s office. However, it is not certain that Trump’s support will have any weight with the electorate. The “total support” given to the US president on October 18 made no visible difference in the polls.

In one survey, 64% of Israelis surveyed said it would not influence their vote, and 17% said it made them less likely to support Netanyahu, compared to 12% who said it strengthened their resolve to support Netanyahu’s Likud party.

In the final stages of the hotly contested campaign, Netanyahu also predicted increasing financial isolation, saying billions of dollars in annual U.S. military aid would soon dry up, and drew a rare public rebuke from the central bank for repeatedly asserting that Israel could use cryptocurrencies to avoid escalating global sanctions.

“Cryptocurrencies cannot be used as a means to circumvent sanctions,” the Bank of Israel said Sunday evening. “The right path for the Israeli economy is to maintain economic relations with our major trading partners and focus on preventing sanctions and their negative impact on the economy. »

Netanyahu already hinted at a bleak and isolated future a year ago, when he said Israel might have to become a militarized “super Sparta,” then backtracked in the face of fierce criticism from a horrified Israeli public.

His return to such rhetoric and fear tactics, particularly after the unexpected losses of far-right allies in Serbia and Brazil, has raised questions about whether the ultimate political survivor might finally be on the ropes.

Among his allies or enemies, few expected his government to survive long after October 7, let alone complete its mandate. But the majority of polls have clearly indicated for more than two years that his current coalition seems on the verge of losing its slim majority.