Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot urges caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to deploy security forces without an immediate threat, warning that doing so during the current transitional period could have “devastating consequences” for Israeli democracy.
His letter does not mention Iran, but comes amid reports that Netanyahu is seeking military action there despite security chiefs’ objections.
“In recent weeks, deeply concerning reports have been published about extraneous considerations being introduced into the holiest of holies, Israel’s security,” a statement says Eisenkot has written in a letter to the prime minister. “In this complex and sensitive political situation — perhaps the most sensitive our country has ever known — you have a duty to exercise extra caution and responsibility in making security and national decisions.”
Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority in last month’s election, and President Isaac Herzog tasked Eisenkot with forming a government on Sunday after he received the most recommendations from lawmakers. Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister, however, with control over the government and security forces until a new government is formed. Eisenkot notes in the letter that “only 46 MKs still support your continued tenure as prime minister.”
Channel 12 reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources, that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had again opposed unspecified military action Netanyahu wanted against Iran, after reportedly resisting a similar move before the October 27 election, when defense officials feared it could trigger an escalation and derail the vote.
US President Donald Trump claims Washington has already won the war against Iran but doesn’t want to pull out until there has been a knockout.
“We fought back… and we won. [It’s] just a question of when we want to end it,” Trump says in a Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery.
“We want to make sure we have a total victory — not a 93% victory. It’s going to be total,” he adds.
Trump again claims that the war will end shortly — something he has been asserting for months.
“We lost 18 beautiful souls, but when this conflict is over — and it will be soon — the entire world will be a much safer… more peaceful place,” Trump declares.
During a visit to the Jordan border today, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military must be prepared for “rapid changes and surprise” on all fronts.
Zamir tours a sector under the responsibility of the new 96th “Gilad” Regional Division, alongside other senior officers.
“Alongside the need for intelligence warnings, the baseline posture of IDF troops must be one of readiness for rapid changes and surprise. In every sector, we must maintain a high level of alertness, stay ahead of threats, and ensure the defense of our borders and civilians,” Zamir says, according to remarks published by the military.
The IDF chief says the Jordan Valley “holds historical, Zionist and security importance,” calling the area “Israel’s eastern defensive wall” and “an essential component of our national security and strategic depth.”
Zamir adds that the 96th Division — tasked with the Jordan border from the Israel-Jordan-Syria tri-border area to an area south of the Dead Sea, including the section in the West Bank — “serves as a practical example of implementing the lessons of October 7.”
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