Gadi Eisenkot urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to hold off on military moves that could wait until a new Israeli government is sworn in, while the Prime Minister’s Office said its decisions were based solely on security needs and coordinated with the defense establishment.
Eisenkot, the Yashar! party leader tasked with forming the next government, made the appeal in a letter to Netanyahu, who remains caretaker prime minister, according to Ynet’s report on the letter. The exchange concerns how security decisions should be handled during the government transition.
In the letter, Eisenkot called for restraint on steps that did not respond to a direct and immediate threat requiring urgent action. He warned that using security forces in the absence of such a threat could damage public trust in state institutions and Israeli democracy.
He also referred to reports that he said raised concerns about considerations unrelated to national security entering decision-making. Those were Eisenkot’s allegations, not an established finding about a particular operation.
Eisenkot said decisions that could wait should be left until a government with the Knesset’s confidence takes office. He also warned against putting senior security officials in what he described as a constitutional conflict over their responsibilities.
Prime Minister’s Office says decisions are security-based
In its response, reproduced by Maariv and Walla, the Prime Minister’s Office said all government decisions under Netanyahu had been taken for security reasons alone and in full coordination with the defense establishment.
The office described public discussion of sensitive security issues in Eisenkot’s letter as irresponsible and accused him of trying to politicize national security. It said the government’s decisions had delivered major achievements for Israel and renewed Netanyahu’s call for Eisenkot to join the current government.
Eisenkot subsequently questioned why, he said, a request for an operational briefing through official channels had been refused and why a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee was being delayed. According to Walla, he said he would not allow a gap in parliamentary oversight. Those assertions remain attributed to him.
The reports describe a dispute over restraint, oversight and the government’s handling of security decisions. They do not establish that a particular military operation was ordered for political reasons.
JBizNews Desk | Jerusalem
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