Escalation with Iran ‘Cynically Exploited by Netanyahu,’ Critics Warn
Political interests said to be involved in Israel’s national security calculations
A flurry of leaks, bravado-filled statements and unveiled threats have inundated the Middle East in the hours following Sunday morning’s mysterious power failure at the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran.
The mounting friction between the two enemy states has led some in the Israeli security community to question whether a deliberate attempt is being made by officials, namely Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to purposely enflame the conflict because of domestic political considerations.
“It’s an outrage, and we will investigate this blabber,” Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday, referring to “senior sources” who were quoted attributing the latest attack to Israel.
“If this is happening for political reasons, it’s especially severe. It hurts our interests. The prime minister has great experience in security affairs, and every other consideration should be kept away from these decisions.”
Other lawmakers on Monday were blunter in their finger-pointing regarding the sources of the leaks.
After the third election round [in March 2020], his lifeline was the coronavirus. After the fourth round [in March 2021], it’s Iran?
“Netanyahu has lost it. I fear this isn’t just about exposing Israeli activities in Iran, but also security initiatives meant to serve political needs,” accused Yair Golan, Israel’s former deputy chief of the general staff and now a member of parliament from the Meretz party.
“After the third election round [in March 2020], his lifeline was the coronavirus. After the fourth round [in March 2021], it’s Iran?” Golan wondered, adding that Netanyahu, standing trial for criminal charges, constitutes “a threat to Israel’s security” and should be removed from office immediately.
Last month’s election, Israel’s fourth in the past two years, again produced no clear victor, leaving the nation mired in its messy political impasse. Netanyahu will have until early May to forge and swear in a right-wing government.
That tight timetable, critics say, has caused the long-tenured premier to escalate the Iranian front, hoping to pressure potential coalition partners, still stubbornly refusing to join his government, into doing so.
[Netanyahu] is cynically exploiting our defense system and abilities for his personal campaign
“[Netanyahu] is cynically exploiting our defense system and abilities for his personal campaign,” accused Labor Chairwoman Merav Michaeli in a statement sent to The Media Line.
“Iran is a bitter foe. Israel has a right and an obligation to defend itself from Iran. But publicizing and bragging about these efforts is simply dangerous provocation and warmongering.”
“Netanyahu today is a strategic threat to the State of Israel,” Michaeli said.
Israeli outlets late Sunday night all released identical remarks attributed to “intelligence sources,” claiming the incident in Natanz was carried out by the country’s intelligence agency Mossad, and that the attack was likely to set Tehran’s nuclear program back by about nine months.
In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday officially accused Israel for the sabotage effort, warning that “the Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress on the way to lift sanctions. … But we will take our revenge from the Zionists.”
Other officials in Tehran blamed Jerusalem for conducting “nuclear terrorism” and later on Monday claimed an individual involved in the strike had been apprehended but insisted the damage done to the uranium enrichment facility was minor.
The sudden crash of Natanz power grid, which has completely neutralized the facility, came less than 24 hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani launched the site’s new advanced centrifuges on Saturday night, while also coinciding with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Israel.
“There is no threat that is more serious, more dangerous, more pressing than that posed by the fanatical regime in Iran,” Netanyahu said during a joint press conference with Austin Monday afternoon.
“My policy as prime minister of Israel is clear: I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel.”
While Israel has for the past several years persisted in its campaign against Iranian aggression, by reportedly assassinating nuclear scientists, sabotaging facilities within Iran, striking ships loaded with weapons and oil and attacking military bases in neighboring countries, Jerusalem has usually kept things under wraps and remained tight-lipped, refusing to address the various reports.
Last week, sources confirmed to The New York Times that Israel was behind the Tuesday attack on the Iranian Saviz vessel in the Red Sea.
The past week’s leaks to local and foreign media have some senior officials, past and present, extremely worried.
“Could the public escalation with Iran be connected to the interest of controlling the daily news cycle, in the face of the damning court testimonies?” Moshe Yaalon, a former defense secretary under Netanyahu and a former chief of the general staff, wondered rhetorically.
Netanyahu’s trial for charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust was recommenced last week.
“Is this boasting, through briefings and unnamed sources, related to the efforts to [establish a government] and save the defendant from his verdict?” Yaalon added.
You’d have to be inhuman to be able to separate one side of your brain, burdened with the criminal trial and coalition building schemes, from the other side, which should only contemplate pure national security interests
Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli analyst on security and intelligence affairs, believes that while Netanyahu may not have intentionally initiated the crisis with Iran, he has certainly taken advantage of the growing friction.
“He has no brakes when it comes to political issues,” Melman, co-author of Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel’s Secret Wars, who currently writes for Haaretz, told The Media Line.
“But on security matters, he is definitely very careful. He’s afraid that things will spin out of control, again, because he’s wary of the political toll it will take on him.”
While Israel’s battle against a potentially nuclear Iran is far from a new phenomenon, Melman believes it would be impossible for the prime minister to detach himself from his political needs.
“You’d have to be inhuman to be able to separate one side of your brain, burdened with the criminal trial and coalition building schemes, from the other side, which should only contemplate pure national security interests.”
Uzi Arad, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council, told The Media Line that the past days’ escalating conflict is “a mixture of military needs, diplomatic considerations, political concerns and personal interests.”
“It’s a little bit of everything, a hodgepodge of interests.”
Added Melman: “If you’re going to do confidential things, it’s best to keep it that way. I understand the importance of psychological warfare, the desire to deliver a message [to Iran], but there’s a way. Doing it through the press is simply counterproductive.”
