In advance of Israel’s pivotal election Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought for weeks to orchestrate a new airstrike on Iran but ran into resistance from the military’s chief of staff, according to three senior Israeli defense officials and three other people briefed on the matter.
Then, over the past few days, the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, became concerned that Netanyahu had begun pushing for a separate action against Iran, short of an overt strike, according to an Israeli official and a person briefed on the matter, neither of whom described the nature of such an action. Zamir believed that this would be a miscalculation that could provoke Iran into attacking Israel.
Spokespersons for Netanyahu did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The Israeli officials and the people briefed on the deliberations spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Netanyahu’s rationale for pressing to attack Iran before the election was not clear, but a return to war could have potentially disrupted or even delayed the vote.
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