Israel to nix law allowing PM to declare war with defense minister’s consent

The cabinet decided Thursday to amend a law that had been passed with a large majority which empowered the premier to declare war with consent from the defense minister only.

The amendment was made following criticism directed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since the early 1980s around the time of the first Lebanon War, decisions about declaring war have regularly been made by the security cabinet. But this reality was not given force by legislation.

The suggestion to transfer power from the entire government to the security cabinet was made two years ago by a committee headed by National Security Adviser Ya’akov Amidror.

Previous legislation did not say what was the minimum number of cabinet or government members allowed to make the decision to launch a war. This stoked concern that the premier would use his powers unjudiciously.

The argument that Netanyahu or any other prime minister would never exploit his or her powers to start a war, regardless of the legislation, has been put forward by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Many have agreed with this argument.

 Nevertheless, it has emerged that in 2010, Netanyahu and then-defense minister Ehud Barak gave orders to the heads of the IDF and the Mossad to put the military in preparation for an attack on Iran’s nuclear plants. This could have led to war.