Report: PM, Mossad chief planned Iran op on eve of Israeli election; it was thwarted after US accidentally tipped off

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his loyalist Mossad chief Roman Gofman sought to conduct an operation against Iran on the eve of Israel’s October 27 election, according to an Israeli television report on Friday.

The unsourced, unconfirmed Channel 12 news report claimed the operation was not backed by other senior officials in the Israeli security establishment, who were concerned that it could spark a major escalation and prevent the election from taking place as scheduled.

Plans for the unspecified operation moved ahead, nonetheless. But ultimately, an Israeli security operative made a mistake that led to the US being tipped off about the operation, and Washington quickly moved to quash it, the TV network said. It noted that it was broadcasting the report under the limitations of military censorship.

The Prime Minister’s Office denied the report, saying: “The prime minister himself clarified in real time that an attack before the Israeli elections was not on the agenda.”

Friday’s report follows several others in a similar vein broadcast shortly before Israel went to the polls. On Sunday, October 25, two days before Israel’s elections, Channel 12 reported that an “unprecedented confrontation” had been unfolding between Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir surrounding an instruction by the prime minister for unspecified military action that defense officials believed could have led to a flare-up with Iran.

The network, which cited anonymous sources, said Zamir had been resisting carrying out the military action, no details of which were provided, and sought further deliberations, as well as signed documentation from Netanyahu regarding legal authorization for it.

The issue had come to a head in the previous 24 hours, the outlet said at the time, while similarly noting that its report was being broadcast within the limitations of Israel’s military censorship regulations.

It quoted a military source saying, “This relates to an action that could lead to a flare-up with Iran, at a sensitive and dramatic moment, creating this [potential] miscalculation.”

The report further quoted unnamed sources familiar with the issue, who said there was concern among military leaders of an effort by the political leadership “to utilize the Iranian issue for political benefit.”

Asked about the October 25 report during an interview that night with Channel 14, Netanyahu called it “nonsense,” saying “there was no fight” with Zamir. Earlier in the interview, the prime minister said that he had recently “instructed the IDF and Mossad to topple the [Iranian] regime,” though this did not seem to be connected to the report of a specific instruction.

The Channel 12 report had said the hostility and tension between Netanyahu and Zamir were evident at a discussion at Palmahim Airbase, where the atmosphere in the room was “extremely sour.” The report quoted a senior security source as saying, “History will not forget the role that Zamir has played in recent days,” without offering further details.

The next day, October 26, a day before elections, Channels 12 and 13 reported that Zamir was the only Israeli security chief to oppose military action sought by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz that the IDF feared could spark a flare-up with Iran and derail the election.

‘We’re talking to Iran’

The TV report on the scrapped operation came as progress was reported in Qatari-mediated negotiations to end the war between the United States and Iran, though US President Donald Trump was also said to be considering a renewal of strikes.

Channel 12 reported earlier this week that ahead of Tuesday’s US midterm elections, in which Republicans suffered major losses across the country, Netanyahu urged Trump to resume the war against Iran immediately after the vote, but said the president wants to give diplomatic negotiations with Tehran more time.

Netanyahu reportedly fears the talks could lead to a dramatic easing of pressure on Iran, while Trump wants Israel to refrain from interfering with the diplomatic effort for now.

Asked Friday what his message was to Iran, Trump told reporters outside the White House, “We’ve beaten Iran. We are doing very well with Iran. We’re talking to Iran. We haven’t lost a soldier in six or seven months.”

Trump also repeated his claim that “Israel and, in fact, the entire Middle East, WOULD NOT EXIST TODAY if I did not stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon.”

“Nobody wants to say that, but everybody knows it’s true!” he wrote on Truth Social.