That plan reportedly followed two other occasions, in 2010 and in 2011, when top Israeli leaders seriously considered striking Iranian nuclear facilities but reversed course due to a lack of consensus among military and political leadership.
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Also a former prime minister, Barak enjoys respect as the last leader of the moderate Labor Party to win an election, defeating Netanyahu in 1999. CNN bases this story on an audio recording with former Defense Minister (and one-time Prime Minister) Ehud Barak.
He said Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi blocked one planned attack in 2010, by refusing to certify that the army was prepared to carry out the attack. “Because I know under what circumstances this might happen, what I’m saying is that hopefully we won’t get to that point; hopefully something else will happen along the way”.
“He created an untenable situation”, Barak said of Ashkenazi.
In that lengthy interview, Barak explained why Netanyahu was leading Israel to disaster. Mr Barak is hoping that the new revelations will harm the ex-IDF chief’s prospects.
“The IDF chief of staff presents all of the things, all of the difficulties, all of the complications, and all of the problems including the possibility that there will be losses, and you see in front of our eyes how Bugi (Ya’alon) and Steinitz are melting”, the recording attributed to Barak said.
“Bibi is weak, he doesn’t…he doesn’t want to take tough steps unless he is forced to do so”, Barak said in a series of interviews related to a new biography of Barak being written by Danny Dor and Ilan Kfir.
But he says two cabinet ministers – current Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and current National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz – backed down from the plan.
Israel has regularly hinted it could attack Iran to stop it getting nuclear weapons, something Teheran denies it is seeking.
Netanyahu’s spokesman could not be reached for comment. This time, with US support, Iran’s democratic opposition could topple the Islamic Republic and put an end to the ayatollahs’ threats to “wipe Israel off the map” and bring “death to America”.
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Mysteriously, three days later, an old tape of Barak explaining how his intention to attack Iran was thwarted surfaced, attracting lead headlines in all the papers, and the scandal was forgotten. He later went into politics and also served as Israel’s foreign affairs minister.
