Israeli war cabinet divided over scale, timing of attack on Iran

JERUSALEM

Disagreements arose among members of Israel’s war cabinet on Sunday over the scale and timing of an attack on Iran following its unprecedented retaliatory strike on the country.

The disagreements surfaced during a meeting of the war cabinet at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media, at a time when calls within the government for an immediate response to Iran are escalating.

“There is consensus on the necessity of responding to the Iranian attack, but disagreements revolve around the scale and timing of the response, without ignoring US and international pressure,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

It added that war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot proposed Saturday “an immediate response to the attack, but the proposal was rejected.”

The broadcaster noted that “some within the war cabinet believe that the equation should be 'eye for an eye' in a short and immediate round (of confrontation), while others believe that waiting and planning carefully to deliver a strong response is necessary.”

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said the response to the Iranian attack “was canceled at the last minute” after a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

It suggested that “the security apparatus in Israel still supports a response to the Iranian attack, but not necessarily immediately.”

The war cabinet convened Sunday at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv to weigh a response to Tehran.

The security council authorized Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Gantz to determine how Israel will respond to Iran's attack, which was in retaliation for an April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two generals.

Gantz said in a televised statement that "we will make Iran exact the price" when the time is right.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala