The Palestinian news agency Ma’an cited a report in a Kuwaiti newspaper on Saturday that President Barack Obama thwarted an Israeli military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to abort the planned Iran attack.
But the report revealed that an unnamed “Israeli minister "who has good ties with the U.S. administration revealed Netanyahu's plans to Secretary of State John Kerry "and as a result Obama then threatened to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.”
There are clearly very few “Israeli ministers” who could have betrayed the Israeli plans to Obama. This could be the “back-story” behind Netanyahu’s December 2014 firing of Ministers Livni and lapid.
According to al-Jarida, the Netanyahu government took the decision to strike Iran some time in 2014 soon after Israel had discovered the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel's back.
The Al-Jarida newspaper quoted "well-placed" sources as saying that Netanyahu, along with Minister of Defense Moshe Yaalon, and then-foreign minister Avigdor Liberman had decided to carry out airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program after consultations with his and in the presence of top security commanders.
According to the report, “Netanyahu and his commanders agreed after four nights of deliberations to task the Israeli army's chief of staff Beni Gantz to prepare a qualitative operation against Iran's nuclear program. In addition, Netanyahu and his ministers decided to do whatever they could do to thwart a possible agreement between Iran and the White House because such an agreement is, allegedly, a threat to Israel's security.”
The sources added that Gants and his commanders prepared the requested plan and that Israeli fighter jets trained for several weeks in order to make sure the plans would work successfully. Israeli fighter jets even carried out experimental flights in Iran's airspace after they managed to break through radars.
This report, if confirmed could have dramatic consequences for the Israeli minister who betrayed the Israeli attack to Obama.
Mark Langfan is an Arutz Sheva contributor who specializes in security issues. He is chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, is a senior fellow of the London Center, and is the Arutz Sheva correspondent to the United Nations. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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