Israel Matzav

Former IDF chief of staff: There never was an order to strike Iran - the IDF nixed it

In an interview to be aired tonight by Israel's Channel 2, former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz tells Ilana Dayan that - contrary to what was reported on Sunday - there never was an order to strike Iran because the IDF refused to go along.

The Times of Israel previewed the Ilana Dayan interview with Lt. Gen.(ret.) Benny Gantz who was Israeli Chief of Staff until February 16th of this year. Gantz said there was never an authorization for an Israeli attack on Iran:

“It never reached, ‘OK, take off and fly,'” said Gantz in the interview, which is set to air Monday night in Israel. But he added: “I want the to believe they listened and took into consideration what I have to say.”

Gantz, who retired in February after 38 years of service, also revealed a dispute between the political leadership, which was moving toward a military strike, and the IDF, opposed to such a move.

Despite the disagreement, the army would implement such a strike if ordered to do so by the political leadership, Gantz affirmed.

Gantz’s period as chief of staff was a tumultuous one, as he found himself shepherding the IDF through the instabilities caused by the Arab uprisings, the rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the cyclonic civil war in Syria, and the ever deteriorating security situation along Israel’s northern and southern borders.

But his legacy may be shaped by inaction against Iran’s nuclear program. The decision to strike was not his to make, but his opposition to a strike during this period, together with the reported opposition of several other security chiefs in recent years, may have helped prevent the political decision to carry it out.

Last year Gantz said that a resolution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program was “preferable without force, but if there’s no choice then it can [be done] with force.”

He said that Israel “unequivocally” had the capacity to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and that “we’ll know how to act when needed.”

If one believes General Gantz over an anonymous source in Kuwait, then there was never an Israeli attack planned for President Obama to threaten. 

And of course, you all remember why Gantz was appointed Chief of Staff instead of Yoav Galant, right? I guess he did his job....

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Benny Gantz, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:01 PM