Netanyahu didn’t want to tell the US ahead of Nasrallah strike, for fear it would try to prevent it — report

In discussions in the days immediately prior to the Friday strike that killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Channel 12 claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not want to give the Biden administration advance warning of the planned operation because he feared the US would try to prevent it.

The report says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was urging Netanyahu to approve the strike, was not particularly troubled about not giving the Americans a heads-up.

After the strike, and with Biden administration officials angered to have been given only a last-minute warning, Israel reportedly conveyed a message to the US trying to explain its thinking.

Channel 12 reports the multiple elements of this message as follows: “We might have missed the opportunity. We didn’t want you to be [deemed] responsible by knowing ahead of time. This is a move against the entire Shiite axis. We are prepared for diplomatic contacts for an arrangement [to resolve the situation in the north] — prepared they take place under fire” — as in, without Israel being required to halt its strikes on Hezbollah targets.