Netanyahu and Opposition Clash Over Military Command in Israel
Political gridlock gripped Israel on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leaders clashed over military command authority during the government transition period, Yonhap News reported.
Eisenkot Urges Restraint on Military Strikes Against Iran
The dispute centers on fears that Netanyahu’s caretaker cabinet might initiate fresh military strikes against Iran after the October 27 elections, according to Yonhap News. Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and the opposition figure tasked with forming a new government, sent a formal letter to Netanyahu urging that non-urgent military actions against Iran and elsewhere be refrained from until a new administration takes office.
“We will not tolerate any gaps in the security oversight of a government that has lost the confidence of the parliament,” Eisenkot wrote, urging responsibility during a sensitive handover of power, as reported by Yonhap News.
Eisenkot also accused Netanyahu of withholding standard security briefings from him. He wrote a separate letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, requesting formal intervention to compel the prime minister to provide the required briefings.
Defense Officials Defend Operational Control
The Prime Minister’s office dismissed the opposition’s demands as an attempt to politicize national security, Yonhap News reported. Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement on social media on November 12 asserting that there is no problem with the caretaker government exercising military command authority.
Katz said that issuing directives for targeted airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, defense operations in Lebanon, and maintaining buffer zones in Syria to protect residents of the Golan Heights requires no approval from the opposition or any statutory body, according to Yonhap News. Katz argued that security cannot be postponed to await political procedures, maintaining that the prime minister and defense minister alone hold the authority to make security decisions.
Behind the friction lies persistent disagreement over potential military operations targeting Iran. Local reporting cited by Yonhap News indicated that Netanyahu recently pushed for potential military action against Iran despite opposition from Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and other security chiefs.
Netanyahu Warns of Iranian Threats During Knesset Opening
Similar friction accompanied the opening of Israel’s 26th Knesset, where heated exchanges broke out across the chamber, YTN reported. Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized ongoing Iranian threats during his opening address, warning that Iran has not abandoned its ambition to destroy Israel despite strong military counter-measures.
Opposition figures quickly challenged the legitimacy of the administration. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett questioned whether aides close to the prime minister received illicit funds from Qatar during the war, triggering loud protests from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to YTN.
Amid the public confrontations, hidden political maneuvers emerged outside the chamber. Islamic Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas revealed that an aide to Netanyahu, Natan Eshel, secretly approached him to probe his party’s stance on legislation barring criminal defendants from serving as prime minister and its willingness to join an opposition-led coalition, Yna.co.kr reported.
Abbas said that the outreach directly contradicted Netanyahu’s fierce public rhetoric branding Arab lawmakers as supporters of terrorism during the Knesset opening session.
Parliamentary Hurdles for the Opposition
The right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu secured 53 seats in the October 27 election, but Eisenkot secured the initial mandate to form a governing coalition with the backing of Arab parties, Yna.co.kr reported. Negotiating that coalition remains complex. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party demanded military service exemptions for religious students, a condition Eisenkot has firmly rejected, YTN reported.
Eisenkot said that he intends to build a national emergency cabinet as quickly as possible, though the negotiations will require time. In the interim, the opposition plans to use its majority in the new parliament to replace the pro-Netanyahu Knesset speaker, YTN reported.
The political stalemate leaves ongoing security decisions in the hands of a caretaker administration while coalition talks continue to test fragile parliamentary alliances.