The Israelis Who Prevented a War With Iran

[Perknose]

Netanyahu comes across as positively Trumpian. Not quite as stupid or venal, of course. Who could be?

Nearly a decade ago, at the start of Benjamin Netanyahu’s second term as prime minister (he’s now well into his fourth), the Israeli leader seriously considered launching air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. U.S. President Barack Obama leaned hard on Israel to hold its fire. But when Netanyahu ordered his military to go on high alert anyway, in a possible prelude to war, his own top defense officials were the ones to block the plan.

Whether Dagan and his colleagues ever actually colluded with a foreign government to thwart Israel’s elected leaders remains unclear. Naturally, views in Israel on what actually happened and whether such actions were proper split along political lines. Right wingers argue that in speaking to the Obama administration directly, Dagan and his colleagues committed treason. Israelis on the left praise the same men for doing whatever was necessary to prevent a potentially illegal order and avert a disastrous war.