The Israeli parliament voted in favor Monday of granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ability to declare war with the sole approval of his defense chief under certain conditions.
Following a 20-minute presentation in which Netanyahu accused Iran of covertly pursuing nuclear weapons, reports emerged that the Israeli Knesset approved 62 to 41 the amendment to Israeli law regarding the authorization for the declaration of war.
The new regime included a clause suggested by Netanyahu himself, one that requires only Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's approval to initiate a war "in extreme situations," according to the state-run Kann News and Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The vote also came as President Donald Trump, seen as a key ally of Netanyahu, mulled scrapping a landmark nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by his predecessor in 2015. Trump has joined his top Middle Eastern allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as conservatives at home, in criticizing the deal for being too lenient and has threatened to walk away if its terms were not renegotiated by May 12.
Netanyahu proposed the change prior to his presentation during a debate on whether to transfer war powers from the prime minister's entire cabinet to a smaller, security-focused cabinet, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. It was reportedly opposed by the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Constitution, Law and Justice Committees, but it was later voted on by the Knesset plenum. Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter brought it to another vote during the second and third readings of the bill.
The original war powers law dates back to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, where Palestinians were one of the numerous factions contending for power in what would be 15-year civil war. Palestinians there were displaced by the creation of Israel and a failed uprising in Jordan, and Palestinian movements used the small Mediterranean country as a base to launch operations against Israel.
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