Report: Israel Approved, Then Nixed, Strike on Iran

(Dreamstime)

Israel’s war cabinet gave its military the green light Monday for a retaliatory strike against Iran, but later that night, it decided to wait for “operational reasons,” Axios reported Wednesday, citing two Israeli officials.

It’s the second time that a decision on retaliation has been postponed since Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles Saturday. The Islamic regime warned Israel against retaliation, reportedly threatening to use “weapons that we have not used before” in response.

“We are not sure why and how close it was to an actual attack,” a U.S. official told Axios. Another U.S. official confirmed that Israel told the Biden administration Monday that it decided to wait.

A third U.S. official told Axios a “small Israeli strike” inside Iran would likely trigger an Iranian retaliation. But the Biden administration hopes it would be more limited than Iran’s strike on Israel and would end the exchange of attacks between the countries.

Israeli and U.S. officials said Gen. Hertzi Halevi, chief of staff of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot, all former generals, are pushing for a response, Axios reported.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas party, Aryeh Deri, have been more cautious.

Deri told the Haderech newspaper, seen as the Shas party media outlet, that Israel has enough on its plate with the war in Gaza, the hostage crisis, and hostilities in the north, The Times of Israel reported.

“So, the right thing at this time is to focus on that and not open more fronts, not to look for ways to escalate the situation,” Deri told the newspaper.

Netanyahu on Wednesday met with the foreign ministers of the U.K. and Germany, who visited Israel before the G7 summit in Italy. Netanyahu’s office said he told them Israel will maintain its right to defend itself against Iran, Axios reported.

Netanyahu told the two foreign ministers that Israel will respond to the Iranian attack but will do it in a “thoughtful and calculated way,” a source who attended the meeting told Axios.

The source said he didn’t feel a sense of urgency from Netanyahu and said the prime minister mentioned the need to finish the fight against Hamas in Gaza, which Netanyahu said would also weaken Iran’s ability to harm Israel.