Netanyahu says Israel moved up pager attack due to fears it was about to be exposed

Israel decided to activate its pager attack on Hezbollah in September, ahead of time, because it was about to be discovered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hints strongly in a Knesset speech.

His cabinet initially planned to launch an attack against Hezbollah in October, he says, but had to move up the planning “when our special means was about to be revealed.”

“From the moment I learned that this was about to be revealed, I decided that it was necessary to act immediately,” he claims. “There were those who argued that the US should be informed ahead of time. I argued that the US should not be informed because this could lead to either resistance or a leak, which is the same thing. A leak would have immediately demonstrated the effectiveness of the move. I denied it outright — and we acted.”

Netanyahu says that in the subsequent operations, 70-80 percent of Hezbollah rocket and missile capabilities were destroyed.

He also speaks about his deliberations ahead of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah: “A legitimate argument arose that such an action could lead to the expansion of the campaign.”

“There was a completely legitimate debate, and there was also a second demand,” he continues. “The demand was to update and coordinate this attack with the US. Again, with all due respect to our friends in the US, I rejected it outright.”

He says that the debate over whether to strike Nasrallah continued on his September flight to New York ahead of his speech to the UN.

“Two hours later, I called the defense minister and IDF chief of staff, and said that we had to eliminate the man. When we landed in New York, we convened the [security cabinet]. There was almost an absolute majority. One person argued differently, but the entire cabinet got behind it, and we made the decision, it was carried out — and the rest is known.”