A dispute has arisen between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army chief Eyal Zamir over a possible military operation that could create a risk of conflict with Iran ahead of Israel’s election.
Zamir has asked the political leadership for detailed discussion and written legal approval before carrying out the proposed operation. Details of the nature or target of the operation are not known.
There is concern among military officials that the political leadership could use tension over Iran for electoral advantage before the October 27 parliamentary election.
One security official warned that the operation could quickly turn into a direct confrontation with Iran, creating a risk of miscalculation at a sensitive time.
In an interview on Sunday night, however, Netanyahu denied reports of a dispute with the army chief. “There is no dispute,” he said. Political officials also rejected accusations that the Iran issue was being used for electoral gain.
In the same interview, Netanyahu said he had ordered Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and the military to work towards removing the Iranian government from power. It is not known whether the secret possible military operation is linked to that order.
Netanyahu also claimed that Iran had restarted its nuclear programme. He presented Israel’s coming election as a question of the country’s survival.
Earlier on Sunday he posted on social media an image, made with artificial intelligence (AI), of a nuclear explosion in the sky over Tel Aviv, alongside a warning about the danger of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
Opposition leaders Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan, however, accused Netanyahu of spreading fear and panic before the election.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report