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‘As a lion lifts himself up’: Netanyahu leaves note at Western Wall that hints at Iran strike

Operation Rising Lion was derived the Biblical verse Numbers 23:24: “People that rise up as a lioness, and as a lion lift themselves up.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Thursday, a day before Israel’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put a note in the crevices of the Western Wall in Jerusalem with a quote from the Biblical Book of Numbers that hinted at the impending strike.

The Prime Minister’s Office posted on social media a picture of Netanyahu with a copy of the handwritten verses featuring the lines from Numbers 23:24, which refer to Israel as “People that rise up as a lioness, and as a lion lift themselves up.”

The name of the IDF’s targeted strikes on Iran, Operation Rising Lion, was inspired by this verse.

The whole verse reads:  “Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink the blood of the slain.”

Israel launched a wide-ranging preemptive strike on Iran in the early hours of Friday, targeting military facilities and nuclear sites across the country. Officials described the operation as an effort to eliminate an imminent nuclear threat.

Iranian state television confirmed that Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s Chief of Staff, were among those killed, along with several other high-ranking military officials.

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Additionally, Iranian nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were reported dead following strikes on sites connected to Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran responded by firing over 100 drones, which the IDF intercepted.
On Thursday, Israel created several ruses to defuse Iran’s suspicions that a strike was imminent.

The security cabinet, aware of the plans to attack, leaked to the press that it was meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza and the stalled hostage negotiations.

One source said, “The aim was to put Iran to sleep.”

Every minister signed a strict non-disclosure document, known as a Shomer Sod (“guardian of the secret”).

Netanyahu also leaked “vacation plans” in the Galilee, and there were reports that he was making preparations for his son Avner’s wedding next Tuesday.

The PMO also released a statement that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad Chief David Barnea were preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., on Friday to speak with special envoy Steve Witkoff before the sixth round of nuclear talks with Iran; however, Barnea and Dermer ultimately stayed in Israel.