Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned Thursday that caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans an operational provocation within days, likely through the Mossad, designed to force an immediate Iranian missile retaliation. Barak said the move would give Netanyahu a self defense pretext to launch a wider war without US President Donald Trump’s approval and derail opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s mandate to form a new coalition government.
The warning came the same day Netanyahu and his military secretary, Maj. Gen. Guy Markizeno, held a two hour security briefing in Jerusalem with Eisenkot, where the Israeli military presented an assessment that there is no urgent need to strike Iran, Channel 13 reported. Public broadcaster Kan had reported Wednesday that Netanyahu’s security cabinet ordered the military to step up preparations for a potential Iran strike, prompting a letter from Eisenkot urging Netanyahu to avoid “dangerous moves” while governing in a caretaker capacity with 46 seats in the 120 seat Knesset.