Report: Netanyahu refused to fund plans for strike on Iran

IDF chief Aviv Kohavi turned to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice in 2019 seeking money to put together a plan for a military strike on Iran’s nuclear program, and was turned down both times, Channel 13 news reports.

The Defense Ministry was only able to find the money to begin planning in 2020, once Benny Gantz became defense minister, working out a deal by which the funds for planning and for necessary arms would be advanced against money expected to come in from the $3.8 billion Israel receives in US defense aid annually, according to the report.

The result, the channel says, is that planning has been delayed by a year and a half.

The country’s leadership has been criticized in recent weeks for failing to have a plan in place to deal with Iran, with drills currently only scheduled to begin sometime early next year, despite attempts by Jerusalem to hype up the military threat it poses to Iran’s nuclear program.

The funding issues seemingly stemmed from Israel’s inability to pass a budget in 2019 and 2020, during an unprecedented political crisis. Critics have accused Netanyahu of engineering the budget crisis in order to stay in power.

Speaking to his faction earlier this afternoon, Netanyahu denied having delayed funding, saying while he was in power, there had been money, plans and arms at the ready. “We are the ones who were pushing for it, sometimes against opposition,” he said.