IDF requests extra funding to enable a short notice strike on Iran.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
After Iranian officials told Reuters that the country will not resume talks towards a nuclear deal until its new extremist president Ebrahim Raisi takes office, and international concern grows around Iran’s continued enrichment of uranium in flagrant violation of the previous nuclear agreement, Israel’s army appears to be gearing up for an imminent strike against the Islamic Republic.
Kan News reported Thursday that the IDF’s top brass had requested a significant increase in funding from political leaders who are currently drafting the state budget.
According to Kan, the IDF specifically said it needed extra funds to preserve its “freedom of action” and readiness for a short-notice attack, adding that the money was needed “in order to boost and preserve its Iran strike capabilities.”
An additional report from Channel 12 said that former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t allocated enough money to the IDF to enable such a strike.
A senior defense official who worked with Netanyahu slammed the former premier, telling Channel 12 that “his neglect is what allowed Iran to reach the most advanced stage yet in its nuclear program.”
Another source told Channel 12 that the IDF’s lack of funding for a strike put Israel into a situation in which it is essentially “waving a gun without any bullets in it.”
The criticism comes a day after Netanyahu penned a blistering op-ed accusing Prime Minister Naftali Benett of twiddling his thumbs while Iran works diligently to obtain a nuclear bomb.
Netanyahu wrote that the current government “abandoned the fight for global public opinion.
“Instead of speaking out publicly and clearly to sway American public opinion in Israel’s favor and against returning to the nuclear deal, the current government is doing nothing.
“No one can hear this government’s voice. It has nothing to say, and no one is listening anyway. Like a tree falling in the forest that no one sees, or hears, or cares about.”
Opposition Leader Netanyahu’s statement on the Iranian nuclear issue is unbelievable, even by his standards,” read a statement from Bennett’s office released in response.
“He was prime minister for 12 years, and up until one month ago, it was his neglect which allowed Iran to get the farthest it has ever gotten in terms of the development of its nuclear program. In terms of results, that is a serious failure. He knows it, and is trying to dump the responsibility at someone else’s feet.”